The Bodyguard
by J Williamson
Summary: Sousuke is a bit preoccupied with Chidori to look after Tessa and after the adverse health effects on him last time he did so Commander Mardukas finds someone else to do the job, reluctantly he has only one man for the job.
1. Chapter 1 Jump

The Bodyguard.

An FMP fanfic by;

geordiedynamo

**Chapter 1 – Jump**

The engines droned. Different drone from what the old C-130 Hercules that he had grown used to back in England, but it still bored into his skull. Military transports were the same no matter who you worked for, even a company as powerful and well funded as Mithril. _It had to be a jump didn't it?_ He thought to himself, _I hate jump__ing_. He'd always hated jumping out of planes ever since he'd first started so many years ago, especially ones out over the ocean.

'5mins to drop zone mate.' The corporal said to him over the microphone. He just nodded in reply and got up. He checked his kit, made sure it was water tight. Then checked his Desert Eagle pistols one on each of his legs, he had a full magazine in each and one bullet in each chamber, a bit naughty but he's done this for years since he first started using the FN5-7 and then with the Sig and the Glock. He also had another 4 full magazines for each Eagle strapped to him along with his trusted knife. Attached to his Bergen was his rifle, an H&K 416, wrapped in a polythene bag to protect it from the salty sea water. He put his legs through the straps on his Burgan and attached himself to it using the carbineer and a long strengthened fabric strap. He gave it a good old tug and it stayed were it should have been.

There was a loud buzzer and the 'jump light' went to red. He waddled over to the opening rear tailgate and the thunderous noise of the engines and wind roar assaulted his ears through his helmet and headset. _Bloody hell its cold out there_, he thought looking out into the slivery moonlit night. The corporal showed him 3 fingers then all ten, 30 seconds to go. The realisation of what he was being asked to do hit him. A HALO jump, at night, into the ocean and to find the most advanced submarine in the world that was invisible. _Why the hell did I take this job again?_ He pondered standing right on the lip of the tailgate of the plane. He was tapped on the shoulder and saw ten fingers, 10 seconds. He looked at the red light above him as soon as it turned green he'd go. Taking deep breaths through the oxygen mask he was wearing to make sure it worked and to calm his nerves. Another buzz and the light went green and he flopped forward out the back of plane into the night. He allowed his body to do a full front flip before settling into plummeting towards the sea, a habit he'd picked up from being 1st man out for so long so as to check everyone behind him. _Where the hell is the sodding plane?_ He thought startled; even if it was flying without lights he should be able to see it silhouetted by the moon but it wasn't there.

He continued his drop to the sea below. His altimeter read just under 7500ft, another 5000 and he could pull his parachute and begin looking for this submarine that was meant to pick him up and meet his new boss. He wouldn't be surprised if they'd dropped him 20 miles of target. RAF had done it many times before and came something of a tradition, being dropped miles off target. He used to think the buggers did it on purpose.

2500ft his altimeter read, time to pull his chute. It deployed perfectly, followed by the bone shattering thump as he decelerated from 160mph to 20mph in a matter of a second or so. 'Echo Romeo 1.1 this is the 'de Danaan. Come to a heading of 230 degrees magnetic we will surface for 30seconds only. Land on our top deck and we'll let you in.' Said a female voice over the radio.

'Have that 'de Danaan. Coming to 2-3-0 degrees, Echo Romeo 1.1 out.' He turned until the GPS on his wrist matched the heading he was given. There was nothing there, and how the hell was he meant to hit the top deck? It would be 3ft wide if he was lucky. He had a distinct feeling he was going to get wet. 'de Danaan I am on heading 230 degrees and height of 300ft waiting for you to surface over.'

'Drop to 100ft or you'll over shoot Echo Romeo, land on the top deck asap.'

_100ft? Over shoot? What the hell was going on here? There __is nothing on the surface for me__ to overshoot!_ Then it happened. _Shit the bed!_ Out of thin air a craft appeared on the water's surface, like an aircraft carrier but much lower.

'Echo Romeo, flare chute now!' the female shouted in his headset. He yanked the handles on his chute and dropped into a tight corkscrew dive, he dropped 250ft as fast as he could before levelling out and trying to land. He slammed onto the deck with a thump, his Burgan still in between his legs not 6ft below him as he had planned; he skidded along the deck as he couldn't use his legs to stop him. The wind tugged him along the slippery deck, then he fell again slamming into more sold objects. He noticed artificial light as if he'd suddenly moved indoors and was on a raised platform. He fell again and this time came to a stop.

'Bloody typical.' Commander Mardukas moaned, 'you always knew how to make an entrance.' He got a middle finger as a reply. 'And still as decedent. You are a character Delaney. How the hell you haven't died yet I'll never know.' 'That hurt.' He wheezed. Taking off his helmet and mask 'Get up. We have plenty to do before we return to base day after tomorrow.' He ordered. 'You're going back to base? Why the hell did you make me jump to get here?' Delaney asked. 'I know you hate jumping and it was perfect pay back for Chechnya.' Mardukas smiled as he turned and walked away. 'You're not still holding that against me are you?!'


	2. Chapter 2 New Boss

**Chapter 2 – New Boss**

'For the next day or so this is your room,' Mardukas pointed into a cabin, they were now deep inside the 'de Danaan, 'you have 20 minutes to sort yourself out before you have to report to the Captain.'

'Aye whatever Duke.' Delaney replied.

'Don't mock me Delaney. You are the best at what you do but you don't have to be such an arrogant arse about it. _I _personally vouched for you. It's not often external personal are brought in so quickly. You cock up; I will make you suffer for it. So 20 minutes, my office which is the deck above and 3rd on the right.' Mardukas said sternly.

'Yeah, yeah I hear you. No do you mind, that jump scared the shit outta me and I want to sort myself out.' He grunted back. Mardukas groaned and left. Delaney got out of the soaked jumpsuit he was in and changed into his Combat 95 gear, the British Army's standard issue clothing for its troops. He was in the normal Temperate pattern (the green and brown one or DPM) with a thick woollen jumper over the top, with his rank slide and regimental pins, he checked that the creases were razor sharp and that his boots were so well polished he could blind a camel. He shaped his sand brown coloured beret on top of his head making sure it was sitting right, with the cap badge sitting just off his left eye. He stood in front of the mirror 'perfect' he said to himself. He attached his pistols to his belt in the small of his back with the magazines on his legs and his knife in a scabbard on the right of his belt.

Delaney left and headed for Mardukas' office. He got looks as people past him in the unusually wide corridors of the submarine. He'd been in a few subs before and even the big ones were small and cramped compared to this. He could hear them muttering and looking at him and as he passed, 'What is an SAS Sergeant Major doing here?' or 'He's young to be that high up the ranks.' If only they knew the real truth.

'Come.' Mardukas called at the knock on his door. 'Ah Delaney. You do scrub up well.'

'Piss off. Let's get this out the way. I'm freaking people out with my DMPs and sandy beret.' Delaney complained.

'That or its cause your just plain ugly.' Mardukas chuckled, 'OK then lets meet your new boss then. Be nice.' Mardukas got up and walked towards the door and on towards the command centre of the 'de Danaan.

The reinforced bulkhead door slid open in a nice fluid motion didn't scrape or creak just opened perfectly. The command centre was very open he noticed, not unlike the tight constricted ones of subs he'd been on in the past. The outer edges lined with computer screens and stations, senior ranked NCOs worked away in the blue light below the centre of the room which of course had the Captains chair on it. He couldn't tell if there was anyone in the chair, a man with a greying hair stood in his line of sight. He spoke good English with a definite Russian accent; he turned to see Delaney and Mardukas enter. He turned to the chair and spoke 'They are here Ma'am.'

'Very good. Mr Mardukas you have command.' A soft female voice said from the chair and a figure got up from it, but he still couldn't see her. The long haired Russian guy stepped aside to let her past before cracking a salute off to her, Mardukas did the same.

Delaney stamped himself to attention, hands down by his side, bolt upright; chest puffed out and saluted Captain Testarossa. 'Sergeant Major Tony Delaney, at your service Ma'am.' He said strongly and then it hit him.

She didn't take much notice when the door opened and closed, it was always opening and closing. She saw that Kalinin had turned around he bent and spoke in her ear 'They are here Ma'am.'

She nodded and got out her seat still half playing with her ponytail. 'Very good. Mr Mardukas you have command.' Kalinin and Mardukas saluted her as she walked by. She was met by a young man in a uniform she was unfamiliar with. Black highly polished boots, camouflage pants with an impressive crease down the centre, a thick woollen sweater and a light brown coloured beret. The cap badge was something however she did half recognise, the Winged Dagger, worn only by British Special Forces. But it was slightly different from the one she'd seen. His presence filled the room; she could feel it oozing from him. When he stood to attention his stamp almost made hit the ceiling it felt that hard. His actions where quick and precise, his voice clear and strong. He'd never have to shout in a room to let himself be known, people would just know he was there. He reminded her a lot of her beloved Sousuke, only something was different about him, she couldn't put her finger on, and he was rather handsome she thought.

_My God she's gorgeous_. He thought, stood there paralysed in shock, _she is my new boss? __Mardukas I forgive you for being an arse, this could turn out to be the best job I have ever been on._

They left the command centre and walk down the corridor, Capt. Testarossa lead the way, he assumed that he was heading to her office seeing as it was in a similar area to Mardukas' but all these corridors looked the say to him.

'This way' Capt. Testarossa said opening a door she entered first, Delaney followed close behind, 'welcome to my personal quarters, Mr Delaney.'

_What the Hell?! Her personal qu__arters?_


	3. Chapter 3 Idle Chit Chat

**Chapter 3 – Idle Chit Chat**

'Don't be shy Mr Delaney. I am rather informal when it comes to management of those below me. I am not just an officer; I am person too.' She said to him upon seeing the shocked look on his face sitting down on a chair.

Delaney stepped in, closing the door behind him, 'the Rupert's always get the easy life.' He mumbled to himself. 'Very nice room you have Ma'am.'

'Yes we 'Rupert's' always get the best rooms, even though I try make sure everything is as fair as possible for everyone but those higher than me insist that it should be that way. Please have a seat.'

'Thank you Ma'am.'

'Please Mr Delaney. We're going to be spending a lot of time together in the near future you can call me Tessa.' She jumped in with a soft smile.

'Well in that case, Tessa you can call me Del if you so wish.' He answered returning her smile and taking the seat he had been offered.

'So tell me about yourself, you're SAS I see. But you're only a year younger than me, and you're a Sergeant Major.' She started.

'Tessa I'm actually not SAS, I am linked to the SAS but not one of them. I am a Ghost.'

'You look in good health for a dead person if you're a Ghost.' She giggled.

Del laughed too, 'that was quick Tessa. Very quick they did say where really sharp. No it's the name of the Unit I was in. We were named the Ghosts, basically Army Cadets that were combatants. Trained to be as good as the big SAS boys but we were even more covert. You may never have seen us but you sure saw the effects we had. And your right I probably should be dead the amount of stuff I've lived through'

_Combatant since he was 13? I was right he was quite a lot like Sousuke_. She now took a closer look at the cap badge on his beret it was similar to the one worn by the SAS but it had "_GHOST"_ written down the dagger's blade. 'So you know your stuff then. Mr Mardukas said you had a lot of experience, you served with him?' Tessa asked.

'Not directly, he has pulled me out the crap once or twice. Ok 5 or 6 times, Chechnya was the worst mind. Well not Chechnya as such but it was a mission that started out in there that ended up going through Ingushetia, North Ossetia-Alania and then Georgia finishing with a hairy extraction at the port town of Batumi with half the Red Army on our arses.' He explained, 'Mardukas made the whole thing possible. My boss and him being old friends.'

Del and Tessa talked about such things for a good while or so, sharing war stories, Tessa found Del's much more exciting, he had so much in common with Sousuke but he seemed to be able to interact more with people, 'so Del do you have a girl waiting for you back home?' She was really pushing the boat out here.

He sighed deeply and bowed his head. Gripping his mug of tea tightly it started to shake in his hands a little. She'd gone and pushed that boat out a bit too far she thought, instantly regretting what she had asked. 'I'm Sorry Mr Delaney. You don't have to answer that. It was very cheeky of me to ask.'

'I thought I said to call me Del, Tessa?' Del steadied himself regaining his composure. 'And it was a perfectly reasonable question. One that I'm ok to answer for you. I did have someone. We were deeply in love, but I lost her.'

'Oh I'm sorry.' Tessa replied softly, bowing her head and feeling sorry. 'Where is she now?'

'Hopefully dead, compared to what the damn ragheads would do to her.' He replied face showing signs of anger. 'Moving on, do you have someone waiting for you somewhere?'

Tessa blushed, 'Yes and no.' She answered timidly.

'Ah you like him, but the feeling isn't mutual is it?' Del finished for her. She shot him a shocked look, 'I'm good me man. I can tell these things. Sixth sense as it where, I can get a feeling things are about to go wrong.'

'It seems my faith in Mr Mardukas has been well placed. You are the best person for the job and you're a good person.' She smiled.

'Erm actually Tessa what is my job? I mean you don't exactly need a bodyguard on here or on base.' Del asked, looking puzzled

'Yes well I'm going to do what most people my age do, travel around for a while. "Backpacking" I think is the term you might be familiar with.' Tessa explained.


	4. Chapter 4 Challenge

**Chapter 4 – Challenge**

Del and Tessa soon bid each other good night and crashed out. Del changed into something to sleep in, an old t-shirt that he'd had since his training, it had his training platoon name on the back; "Minden Platoon.". He slept deeply; surprising considering he'd had quite a bashing, but he was used to worse.

He woke up the next day later than he had hoped and the galley was shut, so he did what he did best; improvise. He grabbed himself a boil in the bag ration pack form his kitbag and went back to the galley and one of the kettles and shoved the pack in and set it to boil, jamming the switch in the on position to make sure it kept boiling and cooked the pack fully. He kept a close eye on it as it boiled the silver inside, didn't want to risk melting the kettle. He fished the pack out the kettle, scalding his fingers a little. Del found the tear points and opened the pack; it was burger and beans. Not that the burgers tasted like burgers or the beans like beans. He added some chilli powder to make it taste of something and used the boiling water to make a cup of tea. Del plonked himself down on a chair and allowed to let his mind wander as he shovelled the warm chilli flavoured burger like whatever the hell it contained. The odd _Mithril_ operative came in and out; some NCOs and some officers who shot him looks when he didn't stand up when they entered. _Bollocks to them_, he thought, _I salute no one other than The Boss and __now Tessa._ Del took another gulp of tea and let the sugar hit his system. 'I'm getting too old for this shit man.' Del thought he mumbled to himself.

'Shut up your only 19, how do you think I feel? I'm 40 odd.' Mardukas groaned from behind him.

'Had-away and shite. That means you're ancient you dozy old git.' Del grumbled back; slurping more of his tea.

'What's in your rat-pack then?' Mardukas asked throwing it a suspicious look.

'Chilli flavoured re-claimed cow arse with rotten hernias and a blood sauce.' Del replied a dead pan expression on his face as he shovelled another spoon full into his mouth, 'mmmm yummy!'

'Can you ever be serious for more than a second at a time?' Mardukas complained, Del shrugged and slurped more tea. 'Come on, time for your tour of this place. Might as well, let it fill time up before we dock back at Merida Island.'

'Fair enough. Can I bring my brew and food?'

'No. Down it. Now.' Mardukas ordered. Del grumbled and cursed as he gulped the sorry excuse for food and his mug of tea down as fast as he could. This resulted in a loud burp surfacing from his gut. It reverberated around the galley. Del was surprised with his product, it showed on his face. Mardukas shook his head in disgust _Army; all the same; no class, no polish and so unsophisticated._

Mardukas soon dumped Del into someone else's hands who took him on the tour of the 'de Danaan. He was shown the engine rooms, the command centre where he had first met Tessa the night before, she was there again but he could see that she was busy so he didn't disturb her, she gave him a quick smile and a small wave, he did the same and let her get back to work. He then went to visit the missile silos and then into the main hangar.

'You remember much of you arrival in here?' The sergeant asked.

'Apart from that floor is very hard and hurts, not much really.' Del answered.

'Well this is the main hangar. We keep all our aircraft and AS's here. Mixture of normal helicopters tweaked to suit Mithril's needs, like cargo bays big enough to take an AS and then drop them without landing or deactivating the ECS system.'

'What is this "ECS" I keep hearing about?' Del asked.

'Electronic Cloaking System, it means we can operate with ultimate discretion and secrecy. Half the time no one would even know we were there until it's too late or even not at all.'

'Is that what caused the 'de Danaan to appear out of nowhere in front of me when I dropped in last night?' Del asked feeling the bruises he was able to add to his collection.

'Yeah, we had been sitting on the surface for 5 minutes or so before you jumped. When you were about to miss us we dropped the ECS so you could land.' The sergeant explained.

'And are all of Mithril's craft fitted with the ECS?' Del asked.

The sergeant nodded, 'pretty much yes.'

'That'll explain why I couldn't see the plane I jumped out of as I was falling.' Del said aloud to himself.

'Yeah that is pretty freaky when that happens to you. Well that finishes the tour. I've got things to do before the 'de Danaan RTB.' The sergeant asked him.

'Aye, nee bother, get yasell squared away sergeant.' Del said, the sergeant thanked him and was about to crack him a salute up but Del stopped him, 'I'm not an officer don't crack one off to me now go on, piss off to your work' he finished with a smile. The sergeant left the hanger to go about his duties. Del turned and looked at the towering AS's in front of him.

'Baka!' echoed a cry from further down the line of AS's. He turned to look at some soldiers working on an AS. A woman with short black hair was clearly pissed off at some bloke with long blonde hair, she threw a lethal left hook, it was a hell of a connection, and the bloke went flying across the hanger floor. 'Kruz you're a pervert you know that!'

Del burst out laughing, he couldn't help himself.

'What are you laughing at?' asked the angry woman.

'A woman who clearly knows what she doing, US Army I guess, judging by your accent.' Del explained.

'You're good. United States Marine Corp. And going by your accent and that beret I'd say, British and SAS on top of that.'

'Close but no cigar. I'm Del and you are...?'

'Sergeant Major Melisa Mao. That baka half out cold on the floor is Sergeant Kruz, resident hentai! So you must be the new bodyguard for Tessa. Delaney right?' Del nodded in reply. 'People say your some big shot, but I've asked around and no one has heard of you.'

'Then I've been doing my job properly then.' Was Del's curt reply.

'Well you'd better be as good as your rumoured to be. Tessa is well loved by all the crew and Mithril staff. You fuck up, there will be nowhere in the world you can hide.' Melisa said, her eyes locked onto his.

'Then it's good that I am as good as people say; probably even better.' Del smirked.

'Big words, little man.' Del spun round to see a tall dark skinned man standing behind him. 'Let's see if you can live up to them.'

'And who the hell are you? Before we go any further?' Del retorted.

'Captain Belfangan Clouseau. SRT Commander and if you're as good as you say. When we get back to base, why don't you prove it?'

Del smiled, 'Ok. You're on; once we get back you can set up a series of tests for me.'


	5. Chapter 5 Proving Your Worth

**Chapter 5 – Proving Your Worth**

The 'de Danaan arrived back Merida Island; Mithril's base in the Pacific a tropical paradise if you didn't know what you were looking at. But this facility was one of the most secure places in the world; anything within a 100miles was tracked, even something as small as a bird could be monitored with ease. Del moved his things from his room on the 'de Danaan and into a different room on the base. He had another tour of the base but it was just a quick rundown of the important places in the base. The armoury where his rifle was stored and then the ranges where he could test fire and do a couple of exercises; this is where he'd face Clouseau and the SRT's test.

He was then shown where the bar and the mess hall were. He got some proper food in him before heading back to the armoury and the ranges; he signed his rifle out and some ammunition, lots of ammunition. He walked the short distance to the ranges out of the back of the armoury, he found the 100m zeroing range fast enough and checked the sights hadn't been knocked out during his jump and crash landing. It was firing a little high but not much he could still put accurate enough rounds into someone if necessary and he'd probably just make things worse if he tried putting it right. The laser and tac-light were still zeroed in. He made a mess of the targets, much to the annoyance of the range marshal but he went and annoyed him again by doing the same on the pistol range.

The marshal recommended that he go over to 'The Pit'. An obstacle course; with targets to shoot along the way and civilian ones not to hit. He ran the course 4 or 5 times so he could get to know its layout and what order the targets popped up in. He was then ready for a quick run. The marshal on this range counted him down and off he sprinted; the first targets popped up and Del dropped them without much as a second thought or with much aiming, he hopped a low wall and dealt with the next targets in much the same way. Next the small 'house to clear' and the first of the civilian targets to make things more difficult, Del now really had to aim properly. Rifle in his shoulder he fired quick single shots to the high up targets and then the ones he could see in the windows. He'd hit all the enemy targets so far. Del entered the house and was confronted with an enemy and a civilian; with not much space between them, he swapped to his twin pistols and fired one at the target in front of him and used the other to deliver two quick shots to another two targets to his right, a civilian separated them but they would have been alright. He made his was for the stairs a target swung out in front of him, but he was ready and flung his knife at the scarecrow like manikin.

It landed squarely in his 'heart', Del kicked the poor fella out of his way. He was back with the pistols again firing at all the targets around him; narrowly missing the civilians again. He jumped down from the second floor and was back with his rifle in his shoulder, shooting 2 out of the 3 targets as he fell to the ground and hit the 3rd less than a second later and was sprinting again.

He only had 2 more targets left but they were hidden in amongst a lot of civilian ones, 5 if he remembered rightly. Up they popped Del spotted the first target he had to hit; he put the red dot of his holosight over the targets head and fired, it dropped. He scanned for the second, but couldn't find it. Then he saw it and began to take aim, this one was moving right to left into a cluster of civilian targets it would take time for it to clear them before he could get a clear shot and he couldn't move to get a better angle.

He had to take the shot now. Del tracked and fired, the target dropped and he began to sprint to the finish, a low harsh buzzer rang out. He'd hit a civilian target. Del crossed the finish line, 'Well done Del.' Shouted Tessa who had appeared in the marshal's booth.

'That would be a top 5 time; 34.5 seconds, but you hit a civvy.' Declared the marshal.

'Bollocks! I missed the civilian! I may have hit the target board but it wouldn't have hit the guy.' Del complained.

'The target dropped. You must have hit it; sorry but those are the rules.'

'Had-away and shite. Get your fat arse down here and let's go and take a look at the target. I bet you that it hasn't hit the civvy at all, just the metal part of the target.' He argued back. 'Besides, I want my knife back from Nigel at the top of the stairs.'

'Grab it and hurry up. Your tests are ready!' shouted Clouseau, 'would you like to come and watch Ma'am?'

Tessa smiled and nodded. 'Yes, I have nothing else to do today.' Del collected his knife and checked that civvy target. He was right; it had missed the person, but had clipped the metal of the target. It was a 5 minute drive to the first test area.

'I've looked at your file. Not much to read, but we did get enough to start coming up with some tests. We found that you are the master of all things 4 wheeled. Only person to ever master the old SAS 'Ireland Course'. 98% impressive. Urban combat, body guarding, offensive and defensive driving. And have done every advanced driving course on offer, there is no terrain or vehicle you can't handle. So let's see if you match the paperwork.' They stopped at the beginning of what looked like a road. But as Del looked closer he found it was actually an airstrip that had been over grown and cracked up. Mao and Kruz were waiting there for them.

'Hello Tessa' shouted Mao.

'Oh hi Melissa, how are you?' Tessa replied; the lads let them banter on as women do.

'So are you ready?' Kruz asked, a sly smile sliding across his face.

'You bet I am. What you got set up for me?'

'A simple driving test to begin with. One lap around this old airfield; you must finish at any cost; simple.' Clouseau explained.

Del went and looked at the car he had been given to drive. An ageing BMW 318ti from 1995, not the fastest thing in the world, but was fairly nimble. He opened the bonnet and checked the engine just to make sure no was going to play any nasty tricks. When he was happy he shut the bonnet and turned to Clouseau, 'Now if we're going to do this at all let's do it right. Replace that dummy, which I assume is meant to be Tessa, with the real thing. If she wants to.'

'What? Are you mad? No out of the question, not at all.' Clouseau responded, 'it's far too dangerous.'

'I'm happy to ride with Del Lt Clouseau.' Tessa jumped in.

'But Ma'am it's risky out there. I cannot allow it.' He pleaded, but he was fighting a losing battle.

'I am going to ride along with him.' Tessa insisted sternly.

'What about a crash helmet?' Del suggested, 'better than nothing, at least you can say you put some precautions after you got out ranked.'

Clouseau grumbled and gave in, from somewhere an open faced crash helmet had appeared for Tessa and she soon took her place in the passenger seat of the BMW next to Del, engine idling.

'1 lap, 1000 points for you to lose as you go round, but you can gain some from shooting attackers as you go. You come back with some left we may start to think your some good.' Mao said.

'Attackers?' Del started to cotton on that all was not as it seemed.

'Just some guys in cars and on a bike or two. Nothing too scary or hard'

'Fine, let's get started. You ready Tessa?' Del conceded.

'Yes!' She answered a huge smile on her face.

'Ok, right bye!' And Del was off away into the airfield, following the small sat-nav stuck onto the windshield. He pushed the 318 as hard as he could; hitting motorway cruising speeds and then acceding them without so much as a flinch or flicker of concern.

Tessa was getting nervous, but oddly she felt safe. That no matter what was about to come their way, he'd handle it and she wouldn't be at any risk at all. Del took a set of corners at speed; the tyres squealing in pain, Tessa glanced at the speedo and they were still well in excess of 60mph 'Erm Del we've got company' Tessa pointed out.

'I know we have. They've been trying to keep up for a while. Now let's have some fun shall we?' Del answered, drawing one of the training pistols he'd been given...


	6. Chapter 6 ‘something you dont see'

**Chapter 6 – 'Now that's something you don't see Every Day'**

Del eased off to let his pursuers catch up to him, he soon wished he hadn't. They began firing upon him rather fiercely, he started dodging and weaving trying to avoid being hit.

'He's losing points.' Mao commented watching on the laptop.

'Not enough.' Clouseau replied.

'Hold on tight, we're about to go for a little spin.' Del said glancing at Tessa.

'What do you mean spi...?' She half got out before Del spun the steering wheel and yanked the hand break, causing the car to spun through 180˚, he fired shots from the pistol he'd been given. 3 swift double taps into each of the driver's 'heads', the laser sensors picked up the shots, the drivers broke off; they knew they'd been beat. Del then spun the car back around and gunned it back in the right direction.

'That was too easy. Hope they've got some more tricks up their sleeves or this will get real boring.' Del chuckled. He glanced at Tessa; she was as white as her hair. 'You ok Tessa?'

She nodded slowly 'I wasn't expecting that.' She said calmly. Just looking ahead, she looked a little green in her cheeks.

Del burst out laughing 'my passengers nearly always get sick or at least really shaken up.' He floored it again, but was cut short by a surprise road block. 'Oh shit! VCP! Get down!' he shouted grabbing the back of Tessa's helmet and forcing her head down to her knees. Del ducked a little so he was part covered by the dash but could still see where he was going, which was straight at the road block, the troops manning it opened fire. They had left a gap; not much wider than the car, if at all. He pointed the nose at the gap and kept going faster and faster. He was right; it was fractions too narrow 'Tessa it's time to get skinny!' he shouted as the car scraped between the ones making the roadblock, the troops dived out the way as he smashed the road block apart, bits of front bumper and headlights scattered across the ground, Tessa screamed in shock and fear. They had lost speed from the impact but he still had forward momentum; Del dropped a few gears and floored the throttle again.

'Ha-ha, think you could get rid of me that easily do you? Fools!' Del said smugly to himself.

'Erm Del?'

'Yes Tessa? Are you having fun?'

'AS.'

'Huh?'

'AS!' she screamed pointing forward through the cracked windshield. Del looked and his draw dropped in shock.

'Oh cock.' Was all that he muttered. The ground around him started to erupt in front of him. Del swerved from side to side trying to avoid being hit. He sped past the lumbering AS but was soon confronted with another. Which he avoided just as easily, but they had begun to give chase and they weren't alone.

He glanced in the rear view mirror; 'Well that's something you don't see every day.'

Tessa turned round and looked behind them. She gulped all this for a simple test? Clouseau was as unorthodox in his methods as ever. Behind them the two M9 AS's bounded after them, with help from Hind helicopter too. 'That doesn't look too good Del'

'I know. And it someone else has joined the party.' The car suddenly dipped and dust surrounded Del, clouding his view ahead. He floored it trying to break clear of the dust storm but it was no good, whatever was creating it was moving with them. The car was rocking on the suspension whatever was out there was circling them he could feel the car being pushed around by some invisible force.

'What's going on Del?' Tessa asked her head spinning from side to side looking for the threat spinning around them.

'There are only 3 helicopters in the world that can move like that and you have some in stock, just a question as to which one it is,' he thought for a second thinking of what to do, 'grab my rifle off the back seat.'

Tessa leant in to the back and grabbed his rifle, he told her to take off the laser site and point it out the window into the dust storm; Del floored it and again the dust storm followed them but then it started to diminish, bright flares appeared around them piercing the dust cloud. 'What did you do Del?'

'Set off the counter measures for anti air systems. All pilots have a natural reaction to break off and run as soon as they hear alarm bells ring. The dust finally cleared and a Mi-28 Havoc, the Hind's smaller, faster, and much harder little brother was turning sharply back towards them.

'You do love your Russian choppers around here don't you? Oh and unscrew the grenade launcher off the bottom of it, I'm going to need it in a moment, just as soon as I get us out of being surrounded. Can I have the laser sight please?' Tessa passed it to him and he looked around and pointed the laser at the Hind that was in a low hover off his right. Again flares pumped out from the chopper causing confusion and mayhem he chuckled and drove away as fast as the car would go, which wasn't very fast. Del kept following the satnav device along the route it was telling him to go along. The road soon gave way from poor quality tarmac of the airstrip to dirt and gravel tracks with over hanging trees and large pot holes that thumped and slapped the car, cracking the windshield in several places. The rough road threw them into the air once or twice and the loose and slippery dirt surface made the car hard to control, he had to slide the car around the corners.

Tessa was locked rigid in her seat, not in fear but in awe. She had never seen driving like this before, it was fluid, smooth and it was confident. In the past she had always gotten a little car sick, even when she, Sousuke, Kruz and Chidori were racing towards Tokyo Dockyard trying to stop the Behemoth from destroying the city. This ride was just as rough even though she wasn't being shot as such it wasn't bothering her. 'Pass me the grenade launcher please' Del asked snapping out of her little trance and passing it to him. Del wound the electric down and aimed out the window, eyes flicking between the road ahead and where he wanted to shoot.

The 40mm grenade fired with a hollow sounding thunk and it flew out into the thick woodland, 'Pass me another grenade, I think I might need it.' A loud metallic crashed erupted behind them, Tessa snapped round to see that an AS had fallen to the ground carving up the rutted road; a heavy tree had fallen across the road and the AS must have tripped over it. The second AS however leapt over the top of its fallen comrade and continued to give chase.

'How the hell has he managed to avoid two helicopters and an AS?' Clouseau asked stunned.

'He must be better than they say he is,' Mao started, 'wait, he's on the last bit. Should be appearing from the woods any second now.' She said pointing to the access road. But nothing happened. The AS burst from the trees but no car.

'Urzu 10 where is he?!' Clouseau demanded.

'Sir, I don't know. It got a bit twisty, with lots of blind spots. I thought he was just ahead of me.' Urzu 10 replied.

'Find him! I want him found now!'

They sat just off the main track leading back to the airstrip. Engine idling with just a faint murmur. Del's decision to cut off the track into the thicker trees had paid off. He could now see without being seen. 'Tessa are you OK?' he asked softly.

'I think so, where did you learn to drive like that?' Tessa replied, shaking a little.

'Years of experience, when you do what I do for a living you pick up all sorts of tricks and ways around things,' he placed his hand on hers and looked into her eyes. 'One last sprint and we're done, you ready?'

Tessa nodded quickly, 'let's do it!'

'Yes Ma'am!' Del replied dipping the clutch and hammering the throttle. The tyres struggled for grip on the narrow dirt track as he pressed the car forward, they finally started to bite and it started to accelerate. The car wallowed and bounced on the rough track. Del again grabbed his grenade launcher again and flicked off the safety catch and placed it on his lap. The opening at the end of the track was getting closer and closer. Del looked straight ahead through the cracks in the window, making corrections on the wheel keeping them in a straight line.

'Hold on to your hat Tessa, cause we're about to take off!'


	7. Chapter 7 Teach Me

**Chapter 7**** – Teach Me**

'Brace yourself!' Del shouted, Tessa felt her stomach go light, the crunching of the tyres on the dirt and gravel stopped and the engine revved heavily. She was airborne in a car; her heart was in her mouth and it had skipped a beat or too. The narrow track that they were on rose up to the airstrip and Del had hit it at such a high speed that it had catapulted them into the air; right into the path of Urzu 10.

'Holy kuso!' Mao shouted as she snapped her head around to see Del and Tessa's car take to the air and fly right towards the Urzu 10 in his AS. It clattered to the ground; sparks flying from the chassis as it bottomed out, the car swerved left and right under the strain but Del kept it together.

He kept going towards Urzu 10 who was trying to turn round to see what was going on, but before he knew it the car was under his legs and then he was falling to the ground; the left leg of the M9 had given way. He didn't know why, he had an alarms ringing and warnings telling it was happening but nothing telling him the cause.

Del weaved left and right avoiding the falling AS. He passed his grenade launcher back to Tessa and floored it towards the finish line. Clouseau was fuming, Mao let a small smile cross her face; _He was good, very good_ she thought glancing at the score on the laptop. 'What score did he come back with?'

'See for yourself' Mao answered turning laptop towards him, Clouseau looked and scowled. 'He did take out 3 cars, a roadblock, both the choppers you sent after him and both the AS's. That 40mm to the back of the knee servo was a nice touch Del.'

Del opened the door so Tessa could exit the car. 'Thanks Mao. Shouldn't be too much damage, if he pulls off a reboot it will get up no bother.'

'Thought you didn't have any AS training.' Clouseau complained.

'I don't. But I've had to take out and avoid so many of these in my time serving Queen and Country that I know the best way to get rid of them. So in a way I'm an _anti AS_ expert. How many points have I got left? I think I lost about 200 or so. Not many rounds would have hit us.'

'You didn't lose any points.' Mao said showing him the laptop, it read 1001 points. 'You gained one.'

'Bloody hell you're good.' One of the SRT team said, 'nice shot placement on the 180 spin; quick and tight spin both ways.' Del just smiled, he didn't need anyone to tell him that his driving skills were good, he knew it.

Del headed back to his room in the barracks after dropping off his rifle in at the armoury. The armourer congratulated him on stuff Clouseau's test back in his face, 'bout time someone shut that arse up.'

He got showered and changed, making sure the clothes he was going to wear tomorrow were neat and tidy. Del headed over to the bar and sank a pint or two he enjoyed feeling the alcohol hit his system. Del had defiantly earned them he began chatting with some of the SRT team some more and to the helicopter pilots, advising them to switch the counter measures onto semi auto rather than auto so they'd only activate once a lock was confirmed and so was a launch or they risked any kid with a laser pen or their own forces setting off the chaff and flares. Del could have stayed a lot longer, but Mao had hit the bar and was drinking quite well and he wasn't in the mood for a big session so he went back his room, more of his personal effects had arrived on the main cargo flights so he at least had his small net book laptop and a few other bits and bobs. He set up his MP3 player and speaker dock, turning it up to a respectful volume so that he could lose himself in it but not loud enough to annoy others. Del grabbed his net book and started typing away.

After a while Del had a knock on his door, 'Aye' he shouted and looked towards the door. It opened a crack and a friendly head appeared.

'Konbanwa Del, may I come in?' Tessa asked nervously.

'Of course, you don't need to ask. You're always welcome; unless I'm in the shower then you'd have to wait.' He chuckled, 'Come on sit yourself down boss.'

Tessa smiled and entered, sitting down on a chair at the desk that was in the mediocre room, 'How are you Del?'

'I'm ok thank you. How are you, your skin was a wee bit pale when I last saw you.' Del chuckled. Tessa smiled back.

'I'm fine, thanks for asking. You seem to have annoyed Clouseau quite a bit; no one has ever '_passed_' one of his tests before, they always failed with in a margin of course. But a pass; never been heard of or done for that fact.'

'Well people should start believing my preceding reputation, then I'd have less trouble when go to places. But hey sometimes its half the fun' he smiled thinking of all the other units he'd trounced in his day.

'There is a full exercise on the back half of the island if you want to join in; combined AS and infantry assault, Melisa thinks your unique skills might come in handy. Sgt Sousuke is coming down for it and then afterwards he'll go with us to Tokyo; the first place we're visiting on our trip. I assume you're still coming with me Del?' She smiled.

'Yeah don't see why not. Would be nice to travel to places and not be worried about being shot at or leaving a massive wake of destruction and chaos behind me. Where else are you planning on heading?'

'Well after Tokyo I was planning on heading back home to America for a bit then on to Europe. Starting in Brittan then on to continent and if we have time maybe Africa.'

'Not if we have time; if I deem it safe enough for us to go. Africa isn't as picturesque as it seems even in the tourist destinations its seriously dangerous. If anyone found out that you were there, well there isn't a shortage of warlords who would fancy a crack at lifting you for anyone with a big enough cheque book; that includes Mithril too. Not to put you off anything, but they are lawless lands out there Europe and other places are less of a headache and support will always be on hand.'

'What if I learnt to take care of myself? You could teach me to shoot like you do. So if anything does go wrong I can at least fire back and help somewhat.' Tessa suggested, blushing slightly with embarrassment.

Del stopped and thought. It would be handy if he knew that if the kuso hit the fan she could help to fight their way out of bother. But he'd been in this situation before, trying to train a person with little or no military talent to fight he'd been trained. Getting them to shoot in a straight line and in the right place but to get them to do it in the middle of shit kicking off and they need to start shooting straight and dropping targets. That thing did come from training but most of the time it came from a certain mindset. Some have got it some don't; and Tessa, as nice as she was, wasn't an obvious candidate to have _it_. She was an office type, someone who called the shots from behind a desk and rarely understood the strains of the operatives on the ground. Normally he'd jump at the chance to put a pencil pusher in their place by dropping them right in the shit but then again he normally didn't expect see them again after that nor deploy into the field with him. Training her might have its advantages in knowing what she can do and then he'd know how best to protect her, but it might mean she could get over confident in her abilities and try to play hero landing them deeper in the crap.

Tessa waited for Del to answer, the music from his MP3 player quietly played in the background. One song ended and another began, the acoustic guitar sounded familiar but she wasn't sure why. 'We can get that off.' Del said quietly changing the track, 'my September hasn't ended yet and hopefully it won't tomorrow after I take you on the range. God help me.'

'Does that mean you're going to teach me how to shoot?' Tessa gasped excitedly.

Del nodded, 'yes I am. As long as you obey my rules and expect to be worked harder than ever before.'

'Yes! Yes! Anything you say!' she jumped to her feet, launching herself at him hugging him tightly. 'Thank you Del! No one has ever really taught me to fire a gun before'

Del smiled awkwardly. Allowing his arms to wrap around her gently, _this is a bit awkward, _he thought, _please God don't let anyone walk in now_.

'Tessa you still here with the Brit?' yelled a drunken Melisa, who stopped in her tracks after bursting through the door into Del's room, 'Oh you are.'


	8. Chapter 8  Training Hard

**Chapter 8 – ****Training Hard**

Del told Tessa to be up early the next morning and have a filling breakfast as she was in for a long day and would need the energy, then to meet him at the armoury to sign out weapons and ammunition for the day.

Del was in the NCO's Mess stuffing a breakfast of sausage, beans, eggs hash browns, toast and a cup of tea down his neck. 'Hey you, yeah you eating the half English breakfast. You're teaching Captain Tessa how to shoot aren't you?' Del nodded at the young Corporal. 'And aren't you the guy she was caught with in their room?' he continued to press.

'Corporal I believe that you may be mistaken and more importantly you shouldn't be spreading rumours or undermining your superior officers, it will only land you in trouble.' Del answered taking a slurp of tea. 'But yes I will be giving her some advanced firearms training, as per her request.'

'Fair enough, but Sgt Sousuke is coming in a day or so, why hasn't she asked him or SMjr Mao, she is an ex- US Marine after all.' He asked, 'or maybe there is some other reason for it?'

'Corporal, I couldn't give a fuck what you think. Now if you don't mind, I need to go get my rifle out.' Del said sternly and walked away.

'Yeah, get your 'gun' out and give Tessa a good old lesson.'

Del put down his tray with his plate on it, downed what was left of his tea and in one fluid motion spun on his heels and threw the empty mug at the corporal, he managed to parry it away but was soon met with a crunching tackle and was sliding along the floor. Del gave him a swift punch to the gut so he wouldn't be able to fight back, but his friends still where. They lunged at him but Del was ready, slamming his foot into one's gut making him double over in pain, the other had his legs taken out from underneath him as Del moved his leg in a wide sweeping arc across the floor sending him clattering to the floor. More decided to join in, coming at him with chairs, table legs and whatever else they could find. Del had had enough. He rose up to crouching on one of his knee's and drew his pistols. The advancing hoard soon stopped in their tracks, some slipping on the floor in their haste to stop.

Del glared back at them all. The mercenaries gathered around him all wanted to fight, but knew better than that on the premise that they were clearly out gunned and out classed. He slowly got to his feet, pistols still drawn out in front of him. 'You fuck with me, your fucking with the best there is.'

'Delaney! You _will_ holster your weapons and stand down or so help me God I will destroy you.' It was Mardukas and he was none too pleased. Del had a few ideas why, he hoped that it was the fact he'd started a fight in the mess or the mess he'd made of one of their training vehicles but somehow he figured it wasn't either of those things. Del did as he was instructed. 'Get your fucking arse over here and follow me. And clean this mess up!' Del grabbed his beret and followed Mardukas he couldn't see his face but he could feel the fuming anger radiating from him. They exited the mess, Mardukas erupted.

'What the hell do you think you are doing? Taking Tessa on a training exercise with you, trashing the mess and expensive training equipment and then to top it all you are caught with her in _your_ room embracing her in a more than 'just friends' manner.'

'Oh get over yourself you prick. You know what I'm like; that I don't do things half arsed. Tessa insisted that she came along for the ride, Clouseau should learn when to take things easy and she came to see me and then hugged me all because I agreed to give her some extra weapons training. Now if you don't mind I have an appointment and I'm going to be late' and Del turned stomped off in the direction of the armoury.

Tessa was waiting for him; she could see that he wasn't happy. His uniform wasn't as neat and tidy; it was creased, dirty and looked like he'd been in a fight. 'Del, are you ok? You look like you've been in a fight.'

Del forced a smile 'yeah I'm fine. Let's get started that's assuming the range controller is going to let me back on the range after I totally destroyed almost all of the targets.'

Tessa smiled and they headed into the armoury, she wasn't dressed in her normal uniform officer's uniform; she had on clothes similar to what Mao and Kruz would wear. She had her hair in her trademark pony tail but she didn't have it draped over one of her shoulders it was straight down her back. On right leg she had a pistol holster strapped to it and she was wearing a combat webbing vest. He had to admit she still looked beautiful. Tessa asked for her pistol from the armourer, he brought it out and Del scoffed.

'What?' she asked annoyed.

'A Beretta 21 Bobcat? That packs as much punch as a fly swatter. You need something with more punch; if you're going to come around the world with me and we get into trouble I want to know that your gonna put someone down if needs are a must, but that thing wont.' Del asked the armourer to bring him a selection of small but powerful pistols. He brought out what he thought would be best. Tessa looked at them with distaste.

'But I like my pistol. Its light, small and I can handle it. It doesn't jump around when I fire it.' Tessa explained.

'Just grab a hold of one of these in turn, see how they feel in your hand. Pull the slide back, drop the magazine out and put it back in. Try drawing it from your holster.' Del insisted. Tessa reluctantly did as he said. She picked up each one in turn seeing how it felt in her hand. 'I'd like to try this one. Seems ok.' She had selected an H&K P2000 semi-auto pistol with a 12 round magazine. Del gestured for her to move towards a firing point on the range. He followed carrying a tray of 9mm ammunition. Del loaded the magazine with 5 rounds and popped up the target. Tessa put the magazine into the pistol.

'Fire the 5 rounds downrange into the centre of the target. In your own time.'

Tessa nodded; she pointed the pistol downrange holding it tight in her right hand and aimed at the target. She fired the 5 rounds in rapid succession. 'See look' she protested 'the shots went all over the place. Only the 1st one hit.'

'No wonder, you tried to fire it one handed. You could do that with the little Bobcat, but you don't have the strength to hold it one handed.' He now came and stood beside her and reloaded the pistol's magazine with another 5 rounds. 'Now take it in your right hand and then place your left on the base of the grip and cup it around your right hand.

He held her hands as he moved them about and kept them there as he continued, his arms wrapped around her. 'Next loosen your grip a little... That's better. Now try again but slower, we can work on firing at speed and at multiple targets later. Now try firing again.' She fired. Pulling the trigger sharply the pistol was still jumping around but not as much.

'Hey it worked! That was much better and this does feel just as good as my old gun.' Tessa smiled looking at her handy work. All the shots had hit the target in the torso area.

'Good now try it again. This time don't snatch at the trigger, squeeze it. If you snatch it'll jump too much and you get the shot pattern you have there.' Del explained. He made her fire again and again until Tessa was putting the shots into a really tight group, no more than 2 inches across.

'I'm getting better at this, thanks to you Del.' Tessa said smiling at him, 'it's nice to have some one-on-one training.'

'It all means that we're more likely to get away on this little trip of yours. Now that you've cracked shooting with that. Lets speed things up a little, snap shooting at multiple targets, double tapping the head and maybe before lunch I'll teach you Moscow rules.' Del explained.

'Double tapping, what do you mean that?' She looked confused.

'A double tap is two shots fired in rapid succession, usually at the head or heart; it drops the target quickly and efficiently, it can be done with the majority of weapons like sub-machine guns and assault rifles. It's an important thing to learn as you can apply it to almost every combat situation you might come across.' Del looked at Tessa, she was a little confused. Del went into an active demonstration. He popped up a target and fired one of his pistols at a target, flipping between head and heart firing 2 rounds each time before swapping. Tessa now got what he meant.

'Shall I practice double tapping then?' Tessa asked.

'Yeah. To do it you squeeze and then snatch the trigger, but you aim for the mouth or the nose so when you snatch the second shot it will put one in the middle of the head after severing the spinal cord at the back of the mouth. Eventually you will handle the kick from the pistol and you won't have such a big gap in between the first and second shots. Now I'm off to play with some of the toys you have here, might even swap my pistols over.' Del trooped off to the armourers window. Tessa reloaded the pistol and began practicing what Del had demonstrated. The sound of quick shots reverberated on the range.

'You destroying all of my targets again Sgt Major?' The armourer groaned.

'Oh yes and I'm about to contribute. Now pistols; good mix of power, accuracy, compact size and suppressible. What do you think?' Del asked.

The armourer told him to wait while he went off and had a look what he had available. He brought a selection of pistols, H&K USP and Mk23 and an FN 5-7. 'Those are your best bets. The H&Ks chamber a .45 round the FN uses the 5.7 round and has a 20 round magazine the other 2 only hold about 10 in the .45. Take your pick.' Del went though the same process as he had told Tessa to do. It was becoming a clear choice. 'I'll get some of that 5.7 ammo for you. And more targets, oh and this thing comes with a laser as standard you want it?' Del nodded in reply and the armourer brought it all out. He still wasn't happy about the pair ripping apart all his targets.

Tessa was still firing away, her rhythm was improving. It was getting faster and more consistent. Del walked back to the range and stood in the booth next to her. He loaded his pistol with all 20 rounds the magazine could hold. It felt better in his hand after he had loaded it; Del took aim at the target in front of him and opened fire. After he'd emptied the magazine he surveyed his handy work. The target was full of holes around the head, heart and right lung. He tried again but this time with the laser, he adjusted it so if he had to shoot without really aiming properly he'd hit the target. It didn't take him long.

'Del I think I've almost perfected double tapping. What do you want to do next?' Tessa asked.

'I think it's time to move onto something a little bigger.' He said, they both went back to the armoury, Del told the armourer that he'd swap his 2 Desert Eagle pistols for a single 5-7 one and several magazines. He took an extra 3 along with the laser unit and a silencer. Del decided now Tessa was ready to handle something that can pack a bigger punch, he asked for 2 H&K MP7 submachine guns, red dot sights, silencers, 5 magazines each and a torch and laser set each. They headed outside on to the bigger range.

'Now, we're going to work on shooting at longer ranges with higher calibre weapons. These are accurate to 200meters. Screw your silencer into the front of your muzzle and pull the stock out all the way.' He told her, Tessa did as she was told. He attached the red dot sights and torch/laser units to both guns. He took Tessa through all the main parts of the weapon and helped her zero in the red dot sight. They worked on the range for the rest of the day, stopping only for a quick lunch that came curtsey of a mobile food van.

'Del, why did you pick these MP7's over a bigger weapon or an MP5?' Tessa asked, cradling the weapon in the crook of her arm.

'Why? Simple, it's perfect for what you're planning to do. Power, range and accuracy wrapped up in neat little package.' Del explained taking a slurp of tea.

'How is this more beneficial than using one of these than an MP5 or another weapon?'

'Pass me a round from your pistol and one for the MP7,' Tessa popped one of the rounds out her pistol and then one from an MP7. Del lit up a cigar and took a long draw on it Tessa passed him the bullets. He held up the 9mm Parabellum bullet in one hand, the 4.6 bullet in another. 'Look at the shape of the bullets. The 9mm has a rounded head. This is what the MP5 and most other submachine guns use as do nearly all pistols; it's an effective round but doesn't have the power to go through body armour, now maybe 10, 20 years ago when your average criminal or terrorist didn't have access to body armour it wasn't a problem, but now they do and this round here,' Del held up the 4.6 bullet, 'has that capability. Look at the head; it's pointed like the rounds you get in assault rifles but it's small like the Parabellum round. So it will go through body armour, but its smaller size means it won't go through to the person behind; making it perfect for counter terrorism roles. Low risk of hitting civilians or hostages with excessive bullet penetration.'

They finished their lunch and Del continued to teach Tessa different techniques from shooting in different positions, lying prone on the ground, knelling crouched on one knee and standing up right.

'I'm getting better.' Tessa smiled cheerfully.

'Yep you are, I think you might be ready for a run in the pit with me.' Del said. Tessa's face lit up like a new year's firework display and she began to buzz with excitement. 'You're going to have to everything I've taught you together and some extra things which might come naturally without you thinking. Come on lets go.'

Del and Tessa walked down to the pit. It was deserted. Tessa requested the Sergeant in change of the pit to close it for their personal use only. No one else was to use it while there were here, not even to spectate. Del was going to get Tessa to run the course shooting the targets herself then Del would join in later. He told her it would help to improve their teamwork if they could both operate in the same area whilst using live rounds, if the need arose for lethal force they both knew what the other would be doing without needing to ask or say anything. Del was easy on her to begin with but the sun was high in the sky and there was no wind to keep them cool, Tessa was starting to feel the strain wearing her webbing vest. Del encouraged her to keep drinking and to keep going, this was part of the training he had to push as hard as she could. They worked hard under the midday sun, soon Del was running it with her and still pushing her hard. They completed a run and looked at their time, the best they'd done so far, but still not perfect. Tessa was really tired and Del could tell, he was starting to feel it too.

'We can still get better Del. Let's keep going, I want to perfect this.' She panted, taking a long gulp of water.

'No, you're tired. Almost too tired, we should call it a day. You've done well and I'm very impressed with you.' Del said to her, but Tessa glared back at him defiantly.

'I am fine to continue. I want to keep going, there is still plenty of light and it's the coolest part of the day we can only get better.' She scowled.

'No. You are too tired, when you get tired you make mistakes and you've not had the training I've had to fight on through it. If you keep going you're going to get hurt, please Tessa rest. There is always another day.' Del pleaded.

'What about "Train hard, fight easy"? Isn't that how the SAS do it?' She argued, her face full of fight.

'Maybe so, but you're not SAS, and it takes years of training and preparation to get that far. I've had years of combat experience, cheated death more times than a cat has lives and seen mates not come back.'

Tessa sighed, she was not happy. Normally Del would have pulled rank even on an officer, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He just couldn't. He conceded 'one more run through, then that's it. No more.'


	9. Chapter 9  Topaz1

**Chapter 9 – Topaz1**

They reloaded and readied their weapons. One last run, Del and Tessa were given an all clear and set off through the pit. Even though Tessa was tired she was still keeping up a good pace and her aim was good. He had to admit this final run felt faster than the previous ones. Del thumped the Nigel dummy out of the way allowing Tessa to press forward into the next area; by the time Del had recovered she had already finished and was moving on. He caught up quickly and they pressed for the home stretch. They were both tired and panting, sweat dripping off them. Del downed as much water as he could take in one go, he looked over at Tessa doing the same. He couldn't help noticing how even in combat kit she looked amazing.

'Erm... Ma'am congratulations are in order; you've set the record for a double up pit run. Smashed the old one by a good second or so, well done.' Said the sergeant triumphantly.

Tess glanced at Del, he knew exactly what she was thinking, 'ok you win. We did need to do another run.' She just smiled back at him, too tired to reply. They walked slowly back to the armoury to sign the weapons they had taken out. Del requested that they be added to their personal equipment list in the armoury stores. They parted company, Tessa went to hug him again, and he felt uncomfortable when she did this sort of thing.

Del was in his room; having a long shower. He stood under the hot torrent of water, feeling it drive the grime of the day out of him. He soon felt refreshed but still a little tired; wrapping a towel around his waist and another to dry out his hair he went back into the main part his room. Del stopped in his tracks to see someone standing there.

'Konbanwa! I'm Lieutenant _King_. You're wanted in the briefing room immediately; it's a matter of up most importance. Lieutenant Commander Kalinin is waiting for.' The girl explained.

'Who?' Del asked looking puzzled.

'Russian bloke, long white hair in a pony tail. Can't miss him.' She continued.

The other guy in the 'Danaan's bridge who was flanking Tessa, 'Ok I'll be there as soon as I get some clothes on.'

'Good idea, your moobs offend my eyes.' King replied coldly.

'You can fuck right off Lieutenant and knock before you walk into my room next time. What would you have done if I hadn't had a towel on?' Del replied. 'Simple; I'd have laughed.' She turned and walked away. _Cheeky bitch_ Del thought. It took him an extra half an hour to reach the briefing room as he decided to take the long way via the NAFFI to get something to eat and drink. Del opened the door into the briefing room; he was dressed in civilian clothing compared to everyone else in their Mithril uniforms. He took a seat and put his feet up on the table and began eating the Pot Noodle he had bought and cracked open a can of Monster Energy drink (the green one). They glared at him.

'You're late.' Kalinin spoke gruffly. 'Your point being?' 'You were asked to attend 30minutes ago why did it take you so long?'

'Food and drink. An army marches on its stomach.' Del answered slurping Pot Noodle juice.

'When I ask you to attend a meeting I expect you to attend on time and when it's urgent I expect you to come running as the rest of my subordinates do.' He growled viciously.

'Piss off Spetz. I aint part of your group here so I can turn up when the fuck I like and do what the fuck I like, get it?' Del countered harshly.

'Mardukas did say you were an awkward bastard.' Del just smiled in reply slurping more of his Monster and munching on more Pot Noodle. Kalinin continued with the briefing.

'We have an emergency situation on our hands. A high ranking Mithril Officer has been taken hostage and we need to mount a rescue operation double quick.' Kalinin clicked a button on a remote causing the lights to dim and a projector to shine into life. On the wall was a map of the Merida Island that closed in a certain part of the jungle that covered the Island. 'We've tracked them to this area here. This however is an area of some 20 square miles, we cannot give an exact location of the camp that our officer, call sign Topaz 1, is being held. I'll now hand you over to our Ops Officers; _2__nd__ Lieutenant_ _King _and _Lie__u__tenant Panda_ and Intelligence Operative _McFarlane_ for the rest of the briefing.'

McFarlane got up and walked to the front. He had a large amount of files in his hand; clearly he'd been a busy boy. He took to the podium and began his presentation. 'We believe the Topaz 1 has been taken to a facility somewhere in this area of the jungle. They have been taken by the Merida Liberation Front and they are going to hold her for ransom, if it is not paid we fear she may be executed.' He said; the screen changed to a picture of a bunch of ragtag soldiers. He continued to explain the makeup of the enemy force, what they were armed with, and their morale and supply routes.

Del was beginning to put a plan together in his head, but he needed more Intel and they weren't giving him it. McFarlane continued 'They have issued a deadline for the ransom to be paid and it is in 4days time, we need to move fast if we are in with a chance to save Topaz 1. Sgt Major Delaney will be leading the recce team to establish where she is being held.'

Del had a feeling that this was coming, the rest of the room's occupants turned to look at him, he kept his face blank. 'What's the outline of the Op? Am I building it from scratch or is there half a plan in place?'

'That is to be explained by Lieutenants King and Panda... erm where are they?' McFarlane asked looking around the briefing room.

'Ooo Panda-senpai! Your boobs are so big!' came a screech from a dark corner of the room.

'King-chan behave we're meant to working!' Panda shouted. Kalinin coughed and they snapped back to reality. 'Erm yes sir?' 'It's your turn now ladies.' He gestured towards the front of room and the screen.

They hurried to the front; Panda began their part of the briefing. 'As you've been told Sgt Major Delaney will be leading the team into locate Topaz 1, once her lactation has been ascertained, his team will secure Topaz 1 whilst a diversionary assault, led by Special Activities Division Jungle Warfare Team with the SRT's AS unit to remove any forces in the immediate location and surrounding area' Panda clicked back to the wider map view, 'The recce will infill into this location here via HALO jump from ther...'

Del cut Panda off mid sentence, 'hell no, I am not jumping out of a God damn plane into jungle canopy, it's painful and risky.'

'But Sgt Major as you can clearly see that the Landing Zone (LZ) is a clearing that you will parachute into; it is easily accessible via HALO, even at night.' King argued.

'And I'm telling you that there is no way in hell that is going to happen. The infill can be done just as easily and more effective with helicopters, it also means we can carry more kit in with us. If the LZ is compromised we'd have no fire support, no extraction options; in short we're up the shit creek without a boat let alone the paddles to go with it. A pair of Sparrow helicopters can drop in a 4man recce team and all their kit via flying low over the jungle canopy, and the Sparrow's armourment is perfect for jungle warfare. The miniguns on those things will rip the undergrowth to shreds.'

'We have MH-6J Little Bird's but no _Sparrows_, if you want to pull this off that's the closest we've got.' Kalinin grumbled.

'Little Birds and Sparrows are the same bloody things man; I'm using the British slang for them. You get me 2 of those and give me a chance to study a map with a sat photo overlay I'll find us a more effective LZ closer to where their HQ facility might be. I now just need to assemble my recce team.' Del requested.

'What are you after?' Panda asked.

'Heavy gunner, sniper and explosives or sabotage expert, they must all be experienced in covert operations.' Del explained.

Kalinin soon stepped in with the solution. 'Sgt Webber is the most proficient sniper in the SRT and Sgt Sousuke is a sabotage expert with all variants of explosives and triggers. As for a heavy gunner I'm a bit lost.'

'I'm not too bad with an LMG.' Chirped a voice from behind, it was McFarlane. 'Are you now?' Del looked curious, McFarlane was a small guy and didn't look as he could take the weight of the average LMG and ammunition.

'Yeah, when I first enlisted with Mithril the instructors decided to beef me up by carrying all the heavy kit, so I had to learn to use the damn things.' McFarlane explained.

'Good enough for me; your in. Now if the rest of you would piss off and leave us to it. We have a rescue op to plan, oh and send the Little Bird pilots down, we'll need them too.'


	10. Chapter 10 Get a Brew On

**Chapter 10 – Get a Brew On**

'Right, rock paper scissors.' Del declared.

'What are you on about?' Kruz asked.

'To pick a brew bitch, the loser makes the cups of tea or coffee for the day, 1st rule of any decent op planning is to have a steady stream of brews flowing. So hands in ladies, time to pick the brew bitch.' Del explained. McFarlane happily put his hand forward as did Kruz, Sousuke didn't. He looked on with great distaste.

'We should not be wasting time playing games to make cups of tea, if you're going to re-plan this rescue operation we best not be wasting time, Topaz1 will be executed and the exercise will be a failure.' He complained.

'I have never failed a mission that I have led, this is part of the process and it hasn't failed me yet, when it does I will change so for now get your hand in Sgt; that's an order.' Del stared him out, Sousuke tried but he backed down and put his hand in. As they all counted to 3 and bounced their hands in unison. Del lost and was nominated brew bitch; Sousuke soon stopped complaining. McFarlane had managed to get hold of bigger maps and satellite images. They over laid them and started marking things off and made notes on the map and pictures.

'Ok, so we have the four outlying command posts, each with an MSR running into the jungle for about a mile and then it becomes untraceable. So we've figured out that the main HQ must be in this area in the centre of the four command posts; but it's still large area to search.' McFarlane said point to the correct areas on the map.

'They would not pick a random spot either, it would be defendable, have a fresh water supply.' Sousuke added.

'I agree, so 1st of all; water supply. Are there any rivers or steams or springs even; in the area?' Del asked studying the map hard. Nothing was jumping out at them.

'Wait. A river would expose them easily and leave them open to a water based assault or sabotage. They'll be using a well fed via an underground river. Look here,' Sousuke pointed to 2 points on the map.

'This stream flows down here then vanishes off the map, then reappears a few klicks away but its wider and is classed as a river and look where it crosses through though.' He tapped the map; it was the area they wanted to search.

'Well spotted, that narrows it down to a few square kilometres to search instead of 20odd. Ok now we just got to figure out a place for the LZ and until the pilots turn up we can't really finalise that.' Kruz said.

'Ok, weapon load outs. What you going to be using?' Del asked looking at the others.

'Barrett M107. Big, powerful and perfect for recce work, stand off a mile away and they won't be able to see you watching them; and perhaps a P90 or an MP7 on the side.' Kruz explained.

'Put a suppresser on the sub and you're sorted. I'm going to be packing a HK417 suppressed with a M203 along with an FN5-7 suppressed.' Del replied.

'XM8-LMG as it's designed to take an ACOG on the lid and those twin drum mags are handy, nothing gets caught or rattles about. I'll be packing a sub as well, MP5SD or something like that.' McFarlane added.

'And what will Sousuke be carrying on our little trip?' Del asked.

'I will be carrying an M4 carbine with a silencer as this is clearly a stealth recon mission and a Glock silencer as well.' He answered.

'Perfect we'll all be carrying bits of C4 and 1 AT4 rocket each, as me may very quickly turn from a recce to a rescue mission very quickly and it always helps to have a heavy punch backing you up in case you end up the proverbial creek without a paddle.' Del explained when a knock came at the door; it was the two chopper pilots and their co-pilots accompanied by King.

'These are the pilots and we've located Topaz 1, they are being held in an enemy compound in this...' she had looked at the map and noticed the markings the boys had made on the map. 'Has some one already told you?'

'No we just worked it out, process of elimination. We found out that there was an underground river and guessed it would be the perfect place to set up a camp as there is no obvious signs of a water supply and its removes the chance of a waterborne attack. So where are they exactly, I gather we must be extremely close.' McFarlane explained.

'Well the centre of your cross is about 1Km out and it's not just an underground river, there's an underground lake; a huge one as well.' King explained.

The boys smiled and Del was chuffed that he'd almost perfectly located the enemy camp before the Int officers had. They introduced themselves to the chopper crews. Oskar Forst had flown for the KSK (German Special Forces) when it was still know as GSG9 and his co-pilot/navigator Anton Stepanov was the best the Russian Army had ever produced; he'd proven GPS to be wrong on several occasions. The other crew was led by Jonathan Rose aka 'Rosey', who was ex RAF and had flown for the SAS and the Ghosts, turned out he'd flown Del and his team into many shitholes over the years and his co-pilot was Nakajima Shinichi who had also flown with Japanese Special forces.

'So you're the boys, who are going to fly us into the lion's den?' Kruz asked after all the handshakes had been completed.

'Indeed. And no one will ever know that we've dropped you off.' Rosey bragged.

'Now that is a lie. The amount of times you've dropped me off in a shithole and it's kicked off big style.' Del countered.

'That's because you stirred up a hornet's nest of trouble. It kicked off after we left and dropped you off. Anyway it was me that got you out the shit in Afghan a year ago remember? The quad bike extraction off the MSR; (Main Supply Route), just south of Kajaki?' Rosey argued back.

'That was you? Nice bit of flying that was mate; pretty damn fun too... Aye good times, good times.'

'Pleased someone had fun that day, my Chinook was full of bullet holes after that and I had a 762 wedged into my seat inches off my arse. Any further and it would have been in my arse, you'd have been fucked if that happened.' Rosey complained.

'What happened? Sounds like it was a bit of a tense moment.' McFarlane asked.

'Well I'd just led a team into Helmand in the Kajaki area, we were after some Taliban big wig, I forget the bugger's name now but anyway; my troop split into two four man teams as there were 2 locations to stake out. So we get dropped off and we're lying about for a day or 2 and the target turns up at my location, and we take him out. What we didn't realise is that half the fucking Taliban army was in the pissing area around the corner and we had pissed them off ever so slightly,' Del looked at Rosey and went on with the tale.

'So we're on our quads riding to the extraction point when we roll into an almighty freaking ambush one of the quads got hit and broke down half a klick later so I took her onto my quad holding onto me.. Needless to say we fucked off like bats out of hell. So we're gunning down the MSR and I'm screaming for the extraction chopper to be ready at the LZ when we got there. The fucking co-pilot or that dick is saying if the LZ is too hot he aint coming in. I told him that we'd be fucking lucky if that happened. So we're flying along; at least 7 or 8 pickups chasing us, I've got Lucy sitting on my lap, looking over my shoulder giving agro with her M4 and 203 all the time I'm feeding her mags, that's why I'm slightly deaf in my left ear. I'm sure if I went back I'd get them all back that she dropped along the way. Next thing I know is these 2 Apaches come over the hill and blast 4 of the pickups straight to Allah and the Chinook has its arse open and is landing on the road to pick us up. The rest of the troop are popping off rounds like it's going out of fashion. And we all gun it up the rear ramp of the Chinook, which is still moving forward, and away with 762 pinging off the rear, oh and into his seat,' Rosey got another nod.

'Was all in a day's work for the Ghosts.' Del finished.

'Ok so back to this then, have you been briefed on what we want you to do for us? Sousuke tried to push on.

'Only that you want dropped off somewhere in the jungle, but we have no exact location as of this time.' Oskar replied.

'Good. Intelligence has identified the camp that Topaz1 is being held at although they are not sure which building. That is the purpose of this mission; your job is to fly us in and drop us off as close as you can get without them noticing.' Sousuke explained, 'in an ideal world we'd like you to fly us up along the river and I mean literally.'

'What along the river itself? Like a few feet off the surface of the water, with trees on either side of us?' Shinichi asked, 'you know how much of a navigational nightmare that is? You'd have to almost entirely rely on GPS.'

'No you wouldn't. Do it the old fashioned way, with a map you pleb and trace your finger along it.' Stepanov countered. 'Once you're over the river and flying along it you shouldn't get lost, however I do agree that it might get narrow further up.'

'Not the end goal. We need to be dropped off tabbing (tabbing is short for Tactical Approach to Battle) distance from our target area. Even into the river if necessary; so make sure your kit is waterproofed lads. Don't want any soggy socks now do we?' Del joked.

They continued to talk and plan the infill, Del suggested that McFarlane and Kruz go on one chopper and him and Sousuke in another as it would spread the weight better. There was another Intel update from King and they presented their plan to Kalinin who gave it the green light; they were to deploy to the de' Danaan as soon as they were ready and then from there under the cover of darkness.

The op was on; and all eyes were on Del.


	11. Chapter 11  Oscar Mike

**Chapter 11 – Oscar Mike**

They changed into combat kit back in their rooms and met up at the armoury to collect arms and ammunition. Del loaded his magazines with the special training rounds that he had never seen before.

'They came from our R&D dept; imagine tazar stun gun condensed down into a single round. Aim for the torso and upper chest for maximum effect. It'll put them down for a few hours with a bit of a bruise but ok.' McFarlane explained.

'Or if you really dislike someone, aim for their crotch; it will go numb for a good day or so' Kruz chuckled.

Del slotted them into his webbing vest and clipped his 416 to himself, quickly looking through the x4 scope he had fitted onto the top in place of the red dot sight he had in place. Del made sure that they all had silencers fitted to at least one of the weapons that they were carrying. The armourer past out 4 AT4 (40mm training variant) rockets and they attached them to their packs. Del did a quick radio check and they headed for the dock where the de' Danaan was waiting for them to arrive. No sooner than the hatch closed behind them the sub was moving out to sea. Del and the rest immediately headed for the main hanger to attach the kit to the helicopters and wait for the go.

They arrived to find the helicopters being fuelled up and loaded with ammunition for the miniguns, the pilots where milling around completing pre-flight checks. The team loaded their packs into the positions provided and locked them in tight; all that was left to do now was to wait, and wait. And wait some more. Del was chocking to smoke a cigar but it was forbidden to smoke in the hanger area. He wandered about looking at all the aircraft stored here; including the AS's. He noticed that there was one different for the others, not much but enough to show.

'You like the look of her?' Mao asked making Del jump.

'Yeah, why is this one different to the others? Who uses it?'

'That is the Arbalest, the most advanced AS in the world. It's equipped with the Lambda Driver and Sousuke is the controller because only he can use it.'

'Has no one else done the course for it?'

'No he got into it, it set itself to him and the guy who built it died and only he can reset it. So its stuck set to him.'

'Typical, the only guy who can fix it is always unavailable.'

Del stood looking up at the impressive machine the intercom boomed his name for him to report to the briefing room for an update. He doubled off through the halls; weapon still at his side.

'What we got King?' Del asked bursting into the briefing room.

'Terrorists have upped the ante. They have doubled the ransom demand and are threatening to execute Topaz1 prior to the original deadline they set. Darkness has fallen we need you in position ASAP and prepare for immediate action and move in and extract Topaz1 at all costs.'

'What's the earliest you want us to move in? I'm not comfortable going in without some form of support backing us up. Even if it's just that specialist jungle warfare team you have.'

'We'll see what we can do. We are mobilising any and all forces in time for a dawn raid at the earliest, but you may have to go in alone apart from some minimal air support,' she saw Del's face screw up with annoyance, 'look I'm sorry but I maybe a living legend with a damn fine sexy arse but I can't make something out of nothing.'

Del blasted back to hanger, his boots clanking against the metal floor. He barged people out his way, knocking them into bulkheads or on to the floor.

'Get your shit together gents; we've got the green light we're oscar mike as soon as that top hatch is open and we have clear sky above us. I'm gonna need you guys to gun it hard and fast we don't have much time, we've got to prepare for a dawn raid ASAP.' Del shouted across the hanger, they all leapt into action. Del again carried out a radio check as the helicopters started to power up the engines; they each called out their call signs;

'Mac1 ready.' Spoke McFarlane.

'Urzu 6 ready.' Kruz stated.

'Urzu 7 standing by.' Sousuke said, bland as ever.

'Echo Romeo 1.1 online.' Del finalised, 'Ok let's get this show on the road. Let's move out, pilots we are in your hands.'

The helicopters engaged their rotor blades and poured on the power, lifting into the air inside the hanger before manoeuvring out into the night air. They flew clear of the 'de Danaan and gunned for the shore line. Del spoke again. 'Load!' he shouted over the radio. They all fitted magazines into their main weapons, or attached the link of rounds for McFarlane.

He shouted again over the radio; 'Ready!' and they all cocked their weapons with metallic clunks that were drowned out by the drone of the engines.

Low and fast over the smooth black sea, the downdraft kicked up a small amount of salty spray that Del could taste on his lips. Through the dull green of the night vision goggles he could see the dense jungle looming out of the murk towards him. He couldn't see the opening for the river they wanted to fly along, he just hoped the pilots could find it. The spray soon changed to sand and then back to spray again and he hear the leaves rustling from the downdraft and the air current from them whipping past.

'ETA 7minutes to LZ.' Rosey spoke in his headset.

'Have that lima bravo 1.'

The helicopters weaved their way along gap in the trees that the river had cut for them, it started to get narrow when they were only about a minute; Del adjusted his night vision goggles so they sat more comfortably. All he could see was dense jungle whipping past him then it stopped he could see much further back than before.

'We are at LZ, 30seconds to de-bus of echo romeo and Urzu 7, stand by stand by!' Rosey ordered. Sousuke and Del leaned out over the edge of the skids of the little helicopter. Rosey swung into the clearing and dropped his height until he was hovering only about 6ft off the ground. 'Go!'

Del and Sousuke leapt clear of the helicopter and landed on to the ground and rolled to absorb the impact. They turned and yanked the cables that released their packs from the helicopter which fell clear and hit the ground. Del gave a thumbs up to the co-pilot and Sousuke did the same to Rosey and he pulled clear. Del and Sousuke grabbed their packs dragging them clear so McFarlane and Kruz could get dropped off. Del threw his pack to the ground and lay flat on his belly looking out into the jungle to spot any type of ambush. Sousuke was doing the same off to his left.

The second helicopter came in and Kruz and McFarlane did the same as the others before them. The dust clouded the NVGs and pelted their faces. The helicopters pulled away and flew back along the river. The sound of the rotor blades soon faded away and all around them was the silence of the jungle. Del contacted the 'de Danaan; 'echo romeo 1.1 to 'de Danaan we have landed at LZ and are moving to OP. Will contact upon arrival and will begin relaying intel every hour, over.'

'Roger that echo romeo and good luck 'de Danaan out.' Panda replied over the radio.

They lay for a few minutes more, just listening for anything that didn't sound right. The helicopters were long gone so any noise that could have been drowned out wouldn't be anymore. Del's breathing had almost come to a stop before he was happy to begin moving out into the thick jungle undergrowth.

Sousuke was out front hacking away any foliage with a machete that got too thick for them to press on through. Kruz followed him, his sniper rifle folded in half and slung across his back. Del followed Kruz and McFarlane followed up the rear covering their backs. The jungle was pitch black not a single ray of moon light or star light made it through the thick jungle canopy; the NVGs were struggling to work with hardly any ambient light. They soon agreed to take them off and go on without them. It was hard going to the OP and it was all uphill; this was going to take them some time. It was just after 2200hrs when they had been dropped off and it was going to take another four for them to get to the OP. On they pressed deeper into the thick jungle; the machete was getting a good old swing about slashing the foliage and vines clean in half with nothing but a faint ring.

The darkness surrounded them; almost devoured them. Barely able to see their own hand's in front of them. Sousuke took swing, stepped forward and swung again but hit nothing. A stiff breeze pressed against his face. 'Del I think we're here.'

'What makes you say that?' Del asked.

'I've ran out of jungle to slice through and I can see stars and the moon blotted out by some clouds above us. We must be at the cliff side,' he flicked down his NVGs and looked down below him, 'yeah we're here, I can see the compound.'

They fanned out along the cliff side and looked down onto the enemy camp. It was a large camp, a very large camp. The four of them scanned the camp absorbing every ounce of information; especially the location of Topaz1 and any weak spots.

'Bollocks. Savages, 3 no wait 4 of them. And they seem to be guarding that building in the middle of the compound, it's the only one with armed guards on the door too.' McFarlane pointed out.

'I was thinking the same. I mean if we can get into the camp there are enough shadows to get close to that building, it's getting into the camp that's the issue and dealing with the Savages once we're inside. But we could call in air support just to take care of them.' Kruz added, 'and there is a perimeter patrol as well, with dogs.'

'So what do you think? Breach perimeter, sabotage power generator and then go for the lift as the lights go off. The only thing is dealing with the AS's; when the power goes out they are going to be the only ones who can see us. They'll have to be put out of action or distracted so we can get close enough to knock them out ourselves or just sneak past as an airstrike would generate too much noise and give us away.' Del suggested, the others agreed. They kept watching the camp below, trying to figure out everything that went on in the camp; trying to spot any weakness that they could exploit. They were in for a long night.


	12. Chapter 12  Rescue Armour

**Chapter 12**** – Rescue Armour**

They lay and watched all night, every little thing that happened they noted and worked out if it could be to their advantage. 0400 rolled around and the moon was starting to set and the horizon in the east was staring to turn a purplish colour; dawn was coming. Sousuke, Del and McFarlane moved in closer to the compound. Kruz stayed where he was sniper rifle cocked and ready to fire if needed. He guided them in, McFarlane stopped a little closer to the compound but didn't go as far in as Sousuke and Del he was on the outer limit of the AT4 rockets, he'd have to move fast to hit the 4 AS's without being spotted. He laid them all out along the ridge line so he could move from firing point to firing point with easy and it would make him harder to track down.

Del and Sousuke moved closer, crawling along on their bellies right up to perimeter. The sentry patrol walked past them, they let them pass and sneaked into the compound. Heading for the generators it wasn't hard to find, the diesel engine clanked on into the night. The crept through the shadows ready to open fire with their silenced weapons. As they got closer to the generator any noise they would make should be drowned out by its loud chugging. Del and Sousuke moved closer, neither of them made a single sound as they snuck around. They moved in perfect unison, using only hand signals and movements of the head to communicate. Sousuke peered in through the window of the building that housed the power generator.

He turned to face Del, he pointed to his eye then pointed his thumb down and stuck up 2 fingers or in other words; 'I see 2 enemies.' Del nodded in reply, they moved towards the door and stood either side. Sousuke opened it silently and they both crept inside weapons shouldered. They stalked their targets, Del lowered his rifle and grabbed a stun rod, meant to represent a knife (these would only give them a small electric shock, like a tazar), Sousuke did the same they both struck at the same time, jabbing the stun rods into the sides of their pray and placing their hands over their mouths.

Both relented quietly, they'd be out for a fair few hours but they still tied them up before 'sabotaging' the generator, Sousuke put a small bit of explosives to knock out the cables and not do too much damage to it. It did have to be reused again sometime. They closed the door and disappeared once again into the shadows.

Kruz kept a careful eye over the pair of them waiting to drop anyone at a seconds notice. He watched as Del and Sousuke made a detour and moved around the back of the AS's in of target building. He noticed something odd about them; they were standing upright but didn't seem operational. 'Hey you two, those AS's do not seem to be operational. Like they are turned off.'

Sousuke took a closer look and had a feeling he was right. Del covered him whilst he moved in for a closer look. Kruz was right, they weren't working, and they didn't have an operator inside. Sousuke didn't know why this was but he did take the chance that no one would use them and pulled out a part from each of them. He stuffed them in his pack and rejoined Del before they continued into their staging area before they went for the attack. Kruz contacted King and Panda on the de 'Danaan;

'We're in position and ready to go. What is the status on our air support?' He asked.

'Rojā, Urzu 6. Your air support, at the moment, not much. The 'Little Birds' have been refitted for combat support role. We are working on an extraction craft as we speak but it isn't finalised yet,' Panda started but she turned away from the radio. Kruz could hear shouting in the back ground.

'Urzu 6, urgent! Attack now; do not wait for air support. They are going to execute Topaz1 now!' Panda shouted down the radio.

Sousuke heard over his radio and detonated the explosives shutting down the power to the entire camp. They sprinted from their hiding spot, NVGs on, towards the target building. They stopped at the door Del opened it and threw in a stun grenade, it went off and he could hear confusion inside; they moved in.

The silenced rounds found their homes; quick double taps that sounded like someone clicking their fingers and they dropped. With no light and Del and Sousuke armed with NVG's and stun grenades they had the upper hand. Topaz1 was on their knees, with a gun to her head in the next room. They repeated the process again; the stun grenade went off and they were in. Sousuke shot the gun man; he flopped to the floor instantly. Del dropped the camera man.

'Clear' Sousuke said. Del said the same. They went to Topaz1 and removed the bag over their head. They gasped with relief; Del looked and saw a familiar face...

Kruz fired the big Barrett and felt the recoil push into his shoulder. He took aim on his next target and fired again. Anyone who got too close to the target building he'd fire and watch them crumple to the floor. It would take them a while to find his sniper position so he decided to stay put. McFarlane was firing from his gun line and had used 2 of the 4 AT4s on vehicles that might have been a hindrance to Del and Sousuke. He smiled at the disarray they had caused.

'Captain!' Sousuke cried.

'Tessa! You're Topaz1?' Del asked shocked.

'Yes, do you have a problem with that?' she didn't get an answer from either of them, 'thought not. Now get me out of here please.'

Del covered the door whilst Sousuke cut her hands free from their bindings. 'Can you walk?' he asked.

'Yes I can walk, Sagara-kun.' She bent down and picked up one of the weapons that was around the room, 'and I can fight too.'

Del smiled as he looked out the doorway, _now is the time to see if she has learnt anything from me; when the pressure is on and the targets are shooting back at you_, he thought. 'Are we ready yet?'

'Yes let's go.' Tessa ordered.

'Ok 'de Danaan from echo romeo 1.1, we have Topaz1 she is fit and well moving to extract, what is the ETA on our helo out of here?' Del spoke into his radio.

'Have that, echo romeo good work. Helo extraction is not going to happen the little birds are on their way to cover you as find an alternate method of extraction and RV on coastline we'll be sending a team to pick you up.' King replied.

'How far is it to the RV from here?'

'10miles, as the crow flies. Double maybe triple if you have to avoid enemy or follow a track.' She crackled.

'Kudaran (bollocks), we'll think of something 'de Danaan. Echo romeo out.' Del answered. He knew exactly where they were; in the shit.

'Del we need to move now or we will be over run.' Sousuke urged.

'I fucking know that! Do you still have the bits you took off the AS's?' he asked. Sousuke pulled one out of his pack. 'Then that's how we get out we'll walk right out. Kruz, McFarlane get your arses down here double quick, we're going to use the AS's to walk right out of here.'

Kruz got to his feet and ran down into the compound picking McFarlane up along the way. They fought their way in towards the AS's, they could see Del, Sousuke and someone else entrenched beside them, it looked like a fire fight was ensuing in the early morning light.

'Friendlies 3 o'clock.' Del shouted to Sousuke and Tessa, they kept firing in their set directions of fire. McFarlane and Kruz dashed into their firing point and began to return fire. 'Sousuke, give Kruz one of whatever you pulled off these things and get them working again bloody quickly.'

Kruz grabbed the part off Sousuke and set about reinstalling it and starting up the Savages. It left McFarlane, Del and Tessa to fight on whilst they worked on the AS's.

The firefight was intensifying around them, Tessa was holding her own but Del could tell she was nervous and hesitating with her shots, not wanting to shoot people. She lacked experience of fighting for her life; Del on the other hand had many. 'Del, we need 7 minutes before they are operational!' Kruz called.

'What?' Del shouted back, '7 minutes? What the hell did Sousuke pull out?'

'Main control boards. They need time to recalibrate back into the systems and that takes time.' He explained.

Del coursed loudly and told them to hurry up as they didn't have 7 minutes before they'd run out of ammunition and be over ran. Tessa was starting to panic and was firing sporadically; Del ordered McFarlane to cover his position while he went and calmed Tessa down. 'You need to slow down Tessa, you're wasting ammunition. Only shoot at what you can defiantly see.' He explained, just as an enemy popped out from cover, he fired and bit him square in the chest. She nodded understanding what he meant. They continued firing and not a lot was happening in the AS's, but the enemy was backing off, Del was wondering why; he soon got his answer a sound that would be forever bored into his head and still scares him half to death: the sound of a Tank.

'Oh shit. Tank at 3 o'clock!' he screamed as loud as he could making his vocal cords burn with pain.


	13. Chapter 13 Mission Success

**Chapter 13 – Mission Success**

'Another one Del at 9 o'clock!' shouted Sousuke.

Del snapped round and saw it rumbling into place; they were both Old Russian T-62 tanks. They were surrounded and in the shit.

'Sousuke how long before you're back online?' Del shouted up to him.

'90seconds' he replied.

'You don't have...' Del was cut off buy two massive thundering booms of the T-62s massive 115mm guns fired. Both Kruz and Sousuke got a message on their screens, informing them that they were both dead and out.

'Oh cock.'

'Del I can't see what's going on, are we on the ass end of an ass kicking? Cause I have like a link and a half left before I'm dry.' McFarlane asked.

'Yes, yes we are. Unless we get some air support' Del replied. He soon got on the radio.

'They left 15minutes ago; they should be on site by now. We've lost them off radar and they won't answer their radios.' King replied.

'How the fuck could you have lost them? They can't just vanish into thin sodding air can they?' Del shouted back.

'Don't swear at me, not my fault if they are all having megasex in a volcano!' King replied annoyed.

'We've been flying around in circles for long enough, come on let's get stuck in.'

'We'll wait a little longer, seeing as we are the cavalry; it would be terribly bad form if we showed up on time. We must be late, just in the nick of time should be would be ideal.' Rosey replied smugly.

'What the hell are you on about?' Shinichi asked him.

'It's the job of the Cavalry to arrive just as the main force is about to get wiped out, just in the nick of time, it's an unwritten rule.' He explained.

'Well I think that time is now, from what I can gather there are 2 tanks on location and they are surrounded.' Oskar said anxiously.

'That's our cue then, time to join the party gents. ETA 2 mins.'

'We're in the shit.' Del reserved.

'We can't just give up, we have to fight.' Tessa urged.

'Enemy soldiers, there is no point in fighting anymore, lets discuss a surrender.' Shouted the camp commander.

Del thought for a few moments, he had to play his next move carefully; the choppers could be here any minute and could dig them out he just had to bide his time.

McFarlane took care of this for him though; 'I'm sorry but we don't have the facilities to take you all prisoner, there are only three of us to keep an eye on all of you.'

'What do you mean by that?' the commander asked.

'For the love of Christ is he thick?' Del grabbed a grenade out of his webbing tossed it towards the enemy, 'we mean; go fuck yourselves!' and it went off with a hollow thump in the thick mud.

The enemy returned fire with great gusto. 'Well I'm fresh out of ideas.' Del sighed, sinking back into cover. Then they heard the sound they had been longing for.

'Gun, guns, guns' came over the radio headsets, 'guns, guns, guns' and the Littlebirds screamed overhead miniguns blasting away, 'sorry we're late but the cavalry has arrived.

'Echo Romeo 1.1 laze targets for assault.' Stepanov instructed.

'Have that Lima Bravo2, wait for designation; out.' Del replied, 'Tessa, take my laser and point it at one of the tanks.'

Tessa nodded and aimed the laser, and held it steady on the turret. 'Lima Bravo 2 target painted; fire when ready.'

'Lima Bravo receiving mail*; mail is good and locked. We're off the rail!' Forst confirmed.

*A/N; mail is a term used when sending data to one another like target identification in this case. Play the new Medal of Honor (2010) mission 'Gunfighters' to get what I mean.

The computer systems registered that a missile was fired, but seeing as this way a training exercise no actual missile was fired. The hit was registered when the tank's engine shut down and the lights flashed on and off. The first tank was out of the game. Rosey in Lima Bravo 1 fired strafing bursts into the enemy infantry. Tessa painted the other tank and they went through the same process again; it to was out the game. The little sparrow helicopters continued to pound the enemy into submission until a retreat was ordered.

'Nice guns Lima Bravo, can you extract us?' Del asked into his radio.

'Negative echo romeo, we have no places for you to extract.' Rosey answered.

'Is there any way you can extract Topaz1?' Del pleaded.

'echo romeo, Lima Bravo 2 can extract 2, I say again 2 persons only, we've fired off both our Hellfires and have room.' Anton replied.

'Koto ga aru Lima Bravo 2, you will extract Topaz1 and Mac1 from here, I will press on to RV Delta for extraction by boat. King do you copy that?'

'echo romeo this is panda; we confirm extraction of Topaz1 via airlift, you are cleared to proceed onto to RV Delta for extraction. Good work gentlemen, Panda out.'

Forst manoeuvred the little helicopter into position that he could pick up Tessa and MacFarlane; they sat on the framework that held the weapons onto the side of the helicopter. They used strong rope and karabiner to secure themselves to the framework and then he lifted high into the sky heading away from the combat zone.

Del scoured the camp for extra 7.62 sized ammunition; he soon found some and refilled his magazines and picked up extra grenades. Whilst in the camp armoury he decided to pick up an RPD seeing as he was having to become a 1 man army to extract himself. He said goodbye to Sousuke and Kruz who were sitting next to the AS's, Kruz had lit up a cigarette; Del stole a light and started smoking a cigar. RPD in hand, rifle on his back, links of 7.62 ammunition hung off him Mexican bandit style and a cigar in his mouth he looked like a terrorist and started the hike up the hill and to the coast. It was going to be a long trip; it took him 10hours to reach RV Delta on the coast, he put in several snap ambushes and deception plans to fool anyone following him.

The moon reflected off the ocean surface that gently lapped at the sand. All was silent, not even the animals in the jungle behind him made a sound. A faint hum punctured the silence, Del scanned the horizon ahead though his NVGs and picked up a faint outline of a small RIB (rigid inflatable boat) with figures lying low over the sides.

'echo romeo 1.1 this is sea runner2, we are on location to extract. Activate IR strobe and we'll come in for you.' Spoke a woman's voice.

'Roger sea runner, make it fast.' Del answered and turned on his beacon. Sea runner saw it through her NVGs and made a run into the beach and into shallow. The RIB beached itself and two figures leapt out and ran out into positions at 10 and 2 o'clock. Del ran forward in between the two of them and leaped into the RIB, he kept low and cover the other 2 as they ran back and pushed the boat back out to deeper water before hopping in.

'Well done Del, welcome back.' Mao said from beside the outboard motor.

'Thanks, all in a days' work you know' he answered smiling. He looked at the 2 guys up front, it was Sousuke and Kruz. Kruz smiled in agreement, Sousuke half nodded. 'No get me the fuck out of here. I need a shower.'

Mao sped the RIB towards the De Danaan and they were soon back inside. They put their weapons into the on board armoury and headed back to their rooms. It would only take an hour or so for them to reach port again and get back on dry land so decided to just scrub his hands and face and wait until then to get a proper shower

Back at Merida Del put the 417 into the main armoury and headed straight back to his room after picking his Burgan up. He didn't even bother to unpack it and just went straight into the shower. Turning the power up to maximum and cranking the heat up, he blasted and steamed the grime of the jungle out of him.

He stepped out the shower and dried himself off, wrapping a towel round his waist. He heard a clatter from the other part of his room. _Bloody King_ he thought and headed through. 'King you're losing your touch making all that... oh shit.' He stopped in his tracks; it wasn't King in his room.

'Del-kun, you're...' Tessa was dumb founded and going bright red, she noticed that despite his high level of fitness he showed the signs of a lifetime spent in conflict; he had several scars on his arms and torso.

Del was a little embaraased too, he quickly went back into the bathroom after grabbing civvies to change into.

'What have you come to see me for, Ma'am?' Del shouted through.

'Oh there is a parade happening in one hour, I was going to pass your room on some errands so I decided to tell you myself.' She explained, 'it's on in the main square, uniform required.'

'Oh ok, thanks for coming to tell me in person. You enjoy your helicopter ride?'

'It was... windy to say the least.' She answered smiling. She said goodbye and went off on her errand, smiling to herself. Out of embarrassment or slight girlish delight she wasn't sure.

The hour soon passed; Del had changed into his spare set of combats and boots. He headed out to the main parade square as instructed by Tessa. It was only 5minutes walk from his room and he rounded the corner onto the square what looked like the entire crew of the Danaan had come out for it. He looked at their faces and recognised some of them as the enemy he'd given a hard time to the day before, he decided to stand at the back out the way. Kalinin, Mardukas and Tessa stood at the front of the parade; Kalinin brought them up to attention and stood them at ease again before Tessa started her brief.

'First of all I'd like to congratulate everyone whom participated in the exercise. You all worked very hard and it was very realistic. The result of the exercise was that the enemy force suffered 80% losses of infantry and armour and AS's as well as losing their hostage. The allied forces lost 2 men but safely recovered the hostage, by somewhat unorthodox methods. Therefore it has been deemed that the mission was a total success for the allied forces.' She smiled at her crew, though most of them where on the losing side they still had a good time doing something different. Tessa continued;

'Normally after such an exercise there wouldn't be a parade like this; but there is a very good reason as to why I've called you all here today; for today we welcome a new person into the Mithril family and our crew,' Tessa craned her neck trying to look into the centre of the parade, 'Sgt Major Delaney please come forward.'

'Hai Ma'am!' He shouted from the back of the parade and marched forward; he stopped in front of Tessa and saluted her.

'Sgt Major Delaney, after demonstrating honour, integrity, bravery selflessness and many other qualities that every good soldier should have; I would like to personally offer you a fulltime position within Mithril as of this moment. Do you accept?' she said to him.

'Ma'am it would be my pleasure to work under your command.' He said a massive smile spreading across his face.

'Then it is decided. You will be immediately attached to the Covert Operations Division (COD) of the SRT at the rank of Sgt Major.' She replied and handed him an SRT badge along with the COD flash to go on the sleeve of his shirts and jackets. He saluted Tessa again then turned to face the assembled crew and saluted them too. They returned the salute and gave out a huge cheer.

Kalinin dismissed the parade and told them they had 3 days R&R. Del went and spoke to Tessa thanking her for offering him a position within Mithril he'd have hated to come all this way and to have to go home with nothing to show for it. He went to see his new team mates within the SRT; it wasn't long before they hit the bar.

It was getting rather late at night but Tessa was still up, but her PJs. She was half watching the TV in her and Mao's room holding her favourite Bunta-kun toy in her arms. Mao staggered into the room, obviously very drunk; again.

'Wow, the Del can put the beer away! You made a good choice in picking him, he's gonna fit right in with us lot' she slurred cheerfully.

'I chose him for his soldiering qualities and my personal impression of him, not for his drinking abilities.' Tessa replied groggily.

'Ah yes your _personal_ opinion of him. You know after you were caught hugging him he got some hassle in the mess the next morning; he stood right up and defended your honour and yes I saw the way you were looking at him after he spoke to you after the parade, you were so checking him out. Like you were mentally undressing him.' Mao teased.

'Melisa! I was doing no such thing!' she shouted back angrily, her mind turned to when she walked in on him coming out of the shower. Her cheeks went bright red again.

'Yes you did and you're doing it again right now, your blushing at the thought of it!' Mao pushed, 'your thinking of the highly toned body that only comes from special forces guys, his body will be immaculate.'

'He has several scars on his arms and chest actually.' Tessa replied on auto-pilot. She regretted it instantly.

'How do you know that eh?' Mao asked shocked.

'I accidently caught him just as he stepped out of the shower, he only had a towel on.' Tessa answered blushing heavily, 'please don't say anything Melisa. It was totally an accident.'

'I won't, but I guess Sousuke has some competition for your heart then, that or you'll have to choose' Moa then drunkenly slinked off to bed. Leaving Tessa to think.


	14. Chapter 14 Shipment

**Chapter 14 – ****Shipment**

Del didn't bother to get undressed; he just crashed on his bed. It had been a long few days and it had been a while since he'd have to do a jungle march to an extraction point he was suitably fucked. Then he had entered a very long and very high stakes drinking session with the SRT, it was interesting to say the least. At the end in the bar there was only him and Melisa Mao still standing; well if leaning against the bar propping themselves up counts as standing then they were, the rest had either gone back to their rooms or had passed out. But Sousuke was still there drinking orange juice and not hiding his disapproval of the excessive drinking that all his comrades seem to enter into on a regular basis.

He woke up the next day with a small vicious headache rattling around his head. It wasn't drink induced at all, well maybe a little; it was totally. He was just hoping that the rest in the bar were suffering just as bad. He dragged himself out bed and had a quick shower and changed. He emailed his old Ghost CO to make arrangements for some of his belongings to be shipped over to Merida Island permanently; he soon got a video call.

'So I gather you're not coming back to see us anytime soon are you Del?' Herron asked.

'Nah boss, I'm here for the foreseeable future. Can you start sending things over from my place and round the base?' he asked.

'It's a shame to lose you Del. You were one of the best we ever produced, the guys and girls here will miss you a lot.' Herron replied dismissively.

'Don't try to guilt trip me into coming back. I've accepted the position and have flashes, badges and all sorts of funky things. So here is where I'm staying.' Del sternly replied.

'Ok Del, I'll get the things shipped over. They should be with you in a few days. You want it sent through the Falkland's? What the hell are you doing down there?'

'Mithril's Southern Pacific base is a closely guarded secret. The closest base is Mount Pleasant. Send the flyboys in and the kit will be moved onto a Mithril plane and be flown to me here.' Del instructed.

'Ok, you want your car sent over too? Oh, what about your bike?'

'Yes, definitely want my car sent over, do what you want with the bike boss, keep it for someone to use as a spare or sell it. Just don't for the love of God strip it for parts, I will kill you if you do that and you know I will.'

'Ok, I'll make the arrangements. Depends how fast we get the things packed up here but we'll aim for the kit to be on the next flight out. I'll let you know which flight it is on and its arrival at Mount Pleasant. So you're new lot can arrange a transfer. And don't forget a proper letter of resignation.' Herron conceded bitterly.

Del cut the connection and turned his music up and decided to crack on with his resignation letter and then a good bye letter to his friends back in Echo Squadron and Red Troop. They'd been through a lot together him and his troop, from lying in ditches in Ireland to running fire fights through Chechnya and Afghanistan.

People left the Ghosts all the time but they normally went on into the regular army, on to some spooks job or private security. But they mainly stayed in the country, but Del was moving away, permanently to the other side of world and his chances of visiting are slim.

A knock on the door, 'Aye,' he shouted, Mao opened the door, and he greeted her.

'Grab your stuff. You're moving into the SNCO Block, with the rest of the Sgt Majors.' She instructed. Del hadn't full unpacked anyway so it was no hardship to move his belongings. Fortunately it wasn't far to his new block either and he was soon settling in his new room that had more space than one he was in before. He'd have plenty of room to put his belongings in when they arrived in a day or two.

'Even though we're on R&R we're still training. We're heading out on to the sniper range if you want to join us.' Mao offered.

'Yeah, why not. Should be fun.' He conceded and followed Mao. They hopped into a 4x4 jeep and headed out to the sniper range.

'You have fun last night?' Mao asked.

'Oh aye. I think we were the only two people left in the bar that wasn't drinking. You can certainly drink.' Del complimented.

'You can take a girl out the Marine Corp but you can't take the Marine Corp out the girl.' She laughed, 'we're glad to have you on the team. Not often we get a noob as good as you and can just walk straight in.'

'Thanks Mao, I appreciate it. It's good to be here, going to miss the people back at home like.' Del sighed.

'Call me Melisa. It's only fair. We are the same rank after all no need to be so formal.'

'Fair do's. Still just call me Del. I've always gone by it, why change?'

Melisa took a right at the base of a valley and headed up the hill. It took them about 15minutes of going uphill to reach the range control hut and then another 5 minutes to get to the firing point. They were really high up into the mountains of the island. Del looked out to the scene in front of him. Lush green jungle spread out in front of him, the firing point was on a cliff where a shooter could choose what sort of range they could practice on. The left hand side had plenty or bays, up to 10 as far as Del could see and they looked out onto the other side of the valley, with targets up to about 1000yrd (914m) away.

The other point looked out into the massive open jungle area with the mountain range cutting in from the right a little. He could almost see to the other side of the island, all the little hills and streams in between and a rather large clearing. Melisa told him that it was the drop zone for parachutists. But today it was being used for targets by snipers. There were only 3 bays; clearly not many snipers could operate at such extreme ranges. The range finder told Del the DZ was over 2650yrd (2420m) away. Not far from the longest confirmed kill range of just over 2700yrds (2468m). He was impressed, these where serious snipers.

Kruz fired what must have been the last round in his magazine and stood up. He picked up his rifle at the same time; it was a CheyTac M200. Sousuke was next to him but only had a scope; he must have been acting as Kruz's spotter. 'Hi Del-san, you recovered from last night I see.' Kruz smiled.

'Just mate, was a heavy session. Nice CheyTac and nice shooting mate.' He complimented.

'Thanks. Sousuke is a good spotter; I couldn't shoot to those extreme distances without him. It helps that he shoots himself too understands both sides of the coin.' Kruz replied and smiled at Sousuke.

'I used to spot for my sniper as I shot myself, qualified up to Master Sniper level. (The highest level you can reach in the British Army as a sniper. It's beyond Sniper Instructor.) But I'm nowhere near as good as you Kruz. Leigh on the other hand; yeah she could.'

'Leigh? I'd like to meet him, have a match.'

'Meet _her_. And you wouldn't stand much of a chance; seen her hit a guy going out to 3000yrds (2743m), didn't kill him but she sure as hell hit him and knocked him out.' Del commented.

'How did you know that?' Sousuke asked, 'that she just knocked him out.'

'She was covering my arse when she did it. Bloke was right on top of me and she shot him in the head. Round had enough force to knock him out but not kill him. He collapsed and fell on top of me.'

'That's impressive, where was it at? Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia?' Sousuke asked.

'Nope; Falkland Isles. Second war of said islands.' He answered.

'Whoa hang on. Second Falkland War? There is no such thing.' Mao jumped in.

'Well 'war might be a strong word for it. It was more a Battle of the Falklands than a war. It would have been a war if we weren't on the Islands at the time.'

'What are you on about? There was only one Falkland's war and that was back in '82.' Kruz agreed.

'Yeah well they tried again; and got pushed back by Red Troop at that time only consisting of 5 troops and half a battalion of Royal Marines and some RAF Regiment Guys. Needless to say Creaden Hill where not happy that we emptied their armoury and ammo dump and that we stole their quad bikes either and subsequently broke one of them... again.' Del explained.

'So you repelled a second invasion of the Falkland Islands. How old where you?'

'Oh erm... 15, yeah 15.' Del answered.

Suitably impressed with his answers and war stories, Del was offered a go with some of the sniper rifles; which he gladly took up. They spent the rest of the day firing rounds off and Del got some expert tuition from Kruz to improve his sniping technique. He found that his accuracy was improving and his groupings dropped in size each time.

They ended the day in the same place they had the night before; in the bar. Not drinking heavily but there weren't holding back either. Del once again staggered back to his room after the bar had shut and he fall into bed again. He changed this time at least.

He woke up and checked his laptop; Herron had sent him a message that confirmed that a container with all his stuff had left RAF Brize Norton at roughly 1600hrs GMT and would arrive at Mount Pleasant in the Falklands at 0900GMT. He noticed it was CC'd to the Base Quarter Master and he had arranged for a pick up by Mithril at 1000GMT. Del looked at his watch; it would mean that his stuff would be here about mid afternoon here. Not bad going. He got up and headed out to breakfast at the cook house and settled into wait for it arriving. The plane landed just after 1530 local time, the loadies off loaded off the container onto to a flat bed truck. Del rode with the drive back to the other part of the base where he was now living.

King, Panda, Macfarlane, Sousuke, Kruz and Melisa where there to help him unpack everything. The driver put the container down in the corner of the car park out back. Del typed in the access code and it opened up. Light flooded into the darkened container illuminating a large amount of boxes, they had packed all his stuff around his car that was still hiding in the darkness at the back under a dust cover. It took them half an hour to carry all the boxes into Del's room they had all been labelled so he knew what was in them. It was mainly all books, games, DVDs and CDs from his extensive collection. They'd sent his hard drives for his games consoles other bits he'd collected for them. There was a pile of car parts too, mainly spares and tools.

Towards the end of the box unloading Tessa arrived, she tried her best to help but in the end Del was helping her carry boxes as a pair, even though he could have managed on his own.

He found his car keys eventually and headed out to collect his car now that everything was out. He released the clamps that were holding the car in place and pulled out the ramps, slotting them into their housings. He opened the bonnet and checked to make sure they hand disconnected the battery for transit. He then jumped inside and started the engine praying that there was fuel in the tank. He'd left it with half a tank full but was hoping that they hadn't drained it; it was Shell V-Power fuel and it didn't come cheap. His friends hadn't failed him; they'd topped the tank up to the top.

The engine roared into life; that put a massive smile on his face. The sound inside the small container was deafening his whole body shook from the bass rumbling out the exhaust. He engaged first gear and eased it out of the small metal box. The white paint work shone as it crept out of its darkened home. The rest had gathered around to see it emerge; Del's most prized possession. He'd saved it from death by range fire after it was retired from the driving school and rebuilt it from the ground up and then took it further than that. The massive white spoiler finally appeared into the daylight and Del pulled away from the container, 'Ok Sam, time to stretch your legs after your long flight.' He floored the accelerator and let the tail start to slide out in a big drift; smoke poured from the tyres.

'Sierra RS Cosworth; nice.' Macfarlane commented, 'Rare and sounds like he's messed about under the bonnet too.'

He came to a stop next to his where friends were standing. 'Tessa-san, want to come with me to stretch the cars legs?'

Tessa wasn't sure what to say or do, what did he mean by; stretch his cars legs? Melisa gave her a gentle shove and a nod, King and Panda did the same. 'Yeah, ok Del-kun.' And she got in to the passenger's seat and did her seat belt up.

'You comfy?' Del asked, Tessa nodded, 'ok if you thought the last ride was wild then get ready because this is my car and it's specially modified.'

'What do you mean modified?' Tessa asked nervously.

'Well, you'll see.' Del revved the engine and let go of the hand brake; Tessa was slammed into the back of her seat as the ferocious acceleration shot them forward. She found out what he meant by modifications; he meant he'd made it go faster, in a straight line and around corners as she discovered at the speed he went around a left hand bend, ignoring the base speed limits heading for the runway.


	15. Chapter 15 Home Approval

**Chapter 15 – Home, Approval**

Del was flying around the base at breakneck speed; he was weaving in and out of traffic, still heading for the runway.

'Del-kun, where are you heading?' Tessa asked breathless.

'The main runway; I'm going to try and max her out, blasting the crap out the engine after it been kept at in unpressurised cargo hold. It affects high tuned engines like this.' Del explained.

'But the runway is still open there could be aircraft on it!' Tessa protested.

'That just makes it more fun.' Del smiled and drifted on to the runway; Tessa looked at the speedometer it was reading just over 70mph and they were fully sideways all the way out into the middle of the runway before Del straightened the car up and put his foot down. The engine gave out a deep roar and accelerated violently.

'What the fuck is that on the runway?' shouted the controller grabbing a set of binoculars, 'what fucking lunatic is driving a car on the runway?'

'I don't know but sir we have a problem, Lord Mallory's plane is 2 minutes away from landing. We need to get them off the runway now!' another said. He shouted into a radio microphone, 'Security, we have an unknown vehicle on the main runway and we need it cleared now; Lord Mallory is landing in less than 2minutes!'

'We have company.' Del said as he powered down the runway.

'It'll be our Military Police coming to get us. It is still a live runway!' Tessa shouted back.

'Yeah well they won't catch me with you in here. I don't want to land you in too much trouble.'

'Del Lord Mallory is coming today to wish me luck on my trip; _our_ trip. If it filters through to him that either of us was in this car, we are in serious trouble.'

'Ok. That's bad. Looks like I'm going to need to step this up a gear.' Del conceded. He flicked a switch on the dashboard and dropped a gear and let the engine snarl again. The MP vehicles were nearly upon them and he unleashed another torrent of power. They shot away from the chasing MPs and continued accelerating faster and faster. Del locked his eyes in front of him, he was looking up to 150 meters ahead of him for danger; he soon found it.

'Tessa; is that plane... coming into land?' Del asked. Tessa looked ahead and gulped, it was indeed coming into land. And not just any plane; it was Lord Mallory's personal jet.

Tessa worked it out, if the jet didn't hit them on landing, the exhaust blast from the engines would cook them alive or throw them off the runway like a speck of dust. 'Del we need to get off this runway now!' she ordered. Del turned a red dial and flicked a battle switch into its 'on' position. 2 lights shaped like scuba tanks behind the steering wheel on the dashboard lit up flashing red on and off. They soon turned green with two bars indicating how much was left inside. Tessa looked and could see what was written above the lights, it was a chemical formula and even she knew what it meant and knew what was about to happen next.

'Hold on tight, we really are going to kick it up a gear.' Del said and pressed a button on the steering wheel. Tessa was forced back into the seat; even Del was caught off guard by the sudden lump of power and acceleration. The engine laboured and moaned under the strain of the chemical cocktail sending it into over drive. They continued rocketing down the runway, the speedometer was touching 195mph when they drove underneath the plane and were still accelerating.

The pilot spotted them blasting down the runway, he upped the power and pulled back into the sky again. He looked at his co-pilot in disbelief shaking his head. Del and Tessa heard the plane abort its landing above them; he now had his chance to get away. He had to drive back to his room and stash the car back into the container... yeah. That was not going to be easy considering the amount of MPs now crawling out of their hiding holes to hunt him down.

'Ok there are two ways to do this. We either do it sneaky beaky and try and get back quietly or we blast it and try and get there before they regroup.' Del said to Tessa.

'I think we should go for it; before they've had a chance to organise themselves.' Tessa suggested.

'Hai, Ma'am' Del answered and kept his speed up leaving the runway after dropping down from over 200mph down to 145mph, so he was still blasting through the base much faster than the MPs in their lumbering 4x4's so the chance of him and Tessa being caught up anytime soon. He somehow managed to get back to the barracks without being spotted again. He parked it next to the container and got out; the others had gone. He told Tessa to make herself scarce as the MPs would be searching the base and he could blag it that he was in the car alone more than that neither of them were in the car.

'No. I can tell them to leave you alone; they daren't disobey me. I seem to have a hold over half the men on the base.' She said defiantly, but Del knew what she meant by the hold she could have over men.

'Fine; we'll bluff it as much as we can. Never know might work.' He conceded. Del was beginning to give up arguing with Tessa. He seemed to keep losing to her. 'Right let's look busy. Engine didn't sound 100% correct, might be the change of climate, different humidity and temperature levels.'

'How can you tell, it sounded perfectly fine to me?' Tessa replied.

'I'm not sure, it just seemed slightly wrong. The mix of oxygen and fuel wasn't right making it slightly underpowered. It should be a simple re-tuning job which can be done through the ECU and the specialist computer I carry with the car.' Del explained walking around to the boot (or trunk if you're American). He opened it and much to his surprise there was a note attached to a flight case, Del pulled off the note and read it;

_To Del!_

_We're sorry to have you leave us; we're going to miss you so much! You will defiantly be a miss around the camp and the house._

_You where a fantastic leader, friend and brother in arms. I and everyone else have learned so much from you over the years and had so great times to go with them along the way, we will carry those memories and lessons forward to wherever we end up._

_We hope you enjoy your time working with Mithril and have many more exciting times with them and of course blowing shit up! _

_But in the line of business we're I hold no doubt that we'll run into each other at some point around this mad globe; so this isn't so much as goodbye as see ya later. So; on that bombshell;_

_See ya later Del!_

_From Red Troop (Sharpe to be exact) and all the Ghost staff._

_PS look in the case, we got you a little something to keep you busy!_

Del read the note with a small tear in his eye. Part of him deeply regretted leaving his friends and comrades behind in England. But this was a chance to further his career even if it meant having to put up with Mardukas being a miserable old git. Plus side, at least he had met some new people whom he would enjoy serving alongside and under the command of and that he would be happy to call his friends.

Del then opened the metal case to reveal what the Ghosts had got for him; his jaw dropped. He'd wanted one of these for a long time, had even lobbied costings into the MOD and Herron to get them brought in; but they had gone and got him one of his own. 'You bastards.'

Tessa appeared at his side, 'Del-kun what's wrong?' she looked into the case, 'what is that?'

Del picked it up out of the case and held it in his hands, 'this is a TDI Vector .45 ACP sub machine gun. We had a go of one of these back in England and I spent ages lobbying to get it as a standard issue weapon for us, it is a fantastic weapon system, but no one higher up the chain was listening. Bloody MOD still just sees us as a bunch of jumped up kids.'

'So as a leaving gift they got you one? They must think very highly of you. It's a rare and expensive piece of equipment; they've got a full operational compliment of magazines to (10 magazines at 30 rounds per mag equals 300rds) and the tactical light that's meant to go with it, suppresser and red dot sight.' Tessa commented.

'Yeah they have. Can't believe they've managed to get hold of one and all this equipment that goes with it. Stupid buggers, a big bar of chocolate would have done.' Del shook his head and sealed the Vector back in the flight case. He then pulled out the laptop and jacked it into the terminal hidden behind a panel on the centre console. He booted the laptop up and set off a diagnostic programme, it pulled up the recent telemetry from his quick blast around the base, of which the base MPs hadn't found them yet, it had proven what Del had thought. The change in the air quality and humidity was affecting the engine performance. Del adjusted the settings of the fuel/air mixture to compensate for it, the simulation said that the new settings where going to allow the engine to produce its maximum power output.

'Have you fixed it?'

'Yeah, I think I have, but I'll have to keep readjusting it every time we touchdown in a different country. The computer can adjust for natural variations in weather but nothing as extreme as this. Now I just have to unpack everything in those boxes that's now in my room. Fun, fun, fun.' Del sighed.

'No, need to worry. I'll help you.' Tessa smiled, Del went to insist that there was no need but she issued an order on him, she pulled rank on him. They went back inside and began unpacking all the boxes that the others had brought up. There was plenty of space in his new room so all his stuff went in perfectly, even his extensive collection of non-descript jeans and tees that allowed him to blend in to just about anywhere. All his Combat 95 gear was shipped over too in all its colours and forms; desert, arctic, temperate DPM and jungle DPM as well as other types such as Spetsnaz 'Fall' and 'Urban', German Flecktarn and various US Army digital patterns and all the floppy hats to match. Del did not like helmets; they just made his head a bigger target to shoot at.

It took them a while sorting everything out despite there was plenty of space, they troop back at home had even sent his posters and stuff over so they went straight up. Del set booted up his personal laptop and plugged in the speaker set he had and opened the media player, letting the mixture of rock, metal and other tunes fill the room. Tessa looked on as Del lost himself in the melodic guitar playing and the driving bass lines, singing slightly under his breath and playing along with his mini air bass guitar. Del remembered he wasn't alone and stopped, turning red with embarrassment. Tessa giggled at him, 'you looked like you know how to play.'

'I do sort of. My bass is around here somewhere, I'm not great but I can get by.'

Tessa jumped as her mobile (cell) phone began to ring, Del turned the music down as she took the call. 'Yes? Ok, now? Yes we'll be right down,' Tessa took the phone from her ear, 'you ok with driving to the main building or shall we get a car to come get us?' Del said he'd drive down; the MPs would have given up by now.

'What's happening?' Del asked.

'Lord Mallory wants to see us. He wants to know the details of me going travelling and hopefully to wish us luck.' She explained.

'Uniform or civvies?'

'It's an informal meeting, Lord Mallory wishes us to come as we are, and that should be a good sign.' Tessa smiled.

Del took it easy driving down to the main building as not to attract too much attention to himself but the sports exhaust and dump valves on the turbos were not helping in matters. He found a parking space and turning off the snarling engine. Tessa led the way Del following behind her, they entered a big conference room. Lord Mallory was waiting for them; 'Ah Captain Testarossa how good it is to see you. You look more and more like your mother every time I see you. How have you been?'

'I have been well thank you, Mallory-sama. I trust you are well yourself?' Tessa replied sweetly.

'I am yes, thank you for asking. Who is your friend that you have brought with you?' Mallory asked.

'This is Warrant Officer 2 (Sergeant Major) Tony 'Del' Delaney; he will be accompanying me during my travels.' Tessa introduced.

'Oh yes! The legendary Ghost from Britain that came as of recommendation from Commander Mardukas. Are you worth the money I'm paying for your wage?' He stuck out his hand and Del shook it firmly.

'No, I'm worth a hell of a lot more sir.' Del joked in return. Mallory laughed.

'I like you already Delaney, you have a sense of humour and the guts to say it out loud. Now down to business; your trip Teltha, why? You have travelled the world a lot as a child and now, why do you want to go off now?'

'I have only travelled with Father's work and on Mithril business. I want to see the world properly as a tourist not from behind a chain link fence or a Heads up Display from a satellite image.'

'It's a great risk, Teltha. I'm not confident about this.' Mallory said glumly.

'That is why we have hired Del-kun here. He will be my personal bodyguard, he has been giving me one-on-one combat training.'

'Is that true,' Mallory looked at Del he nodded, 'how did she do?'

'We broke 'The Pit' record for a pair and in a recent combat exercise Capt. Testarossa showed great competence in a firefight. I believe that if the worse should happen that the Capt would be able to hold her own and get to safety with or without my or any outside help.' Del said confidently.

'Is that your professional opinion SgtMaj?' Mallory pressed.

'Yes sir; that is my professional opinion.' Del answered.

Mallory slowly chewed the thought over in his mind. Tessa was a valuable asset to Mithril, almost too valuable to let go. But if he said no she could go off and do it on her own, without Mithril's assets to help her. He had read Delaney's file; he was defiantly capable of doing the job at hand. He had a vast amount of experience in clandestine operations and digging himself out the shit as well. He read the report of the exercise too; in which he had instructed another operative and Tessa to extract via helicopter leaving himself behind to run from the enemy across rough terrain.

'Ok. You can go. But you must do exactly as Delaney-san instructs. If he feels that something is wrong and deem it to be unsafe then you will comply and do as he says. You must maintain contact with the local Mithril facility at least once a day.' Lord Mallory agreed. Tessa nearly exploded with excitement.

'Thank you Mallory-sama!' she screamed and hugged Del tight, 'we're going Del-kun! We're really going! I'm going to tell Mao' and Tessa steamed off.

'She's excitable isn't she?' Del asked.

'Yes she is. Look after her out there, we're counting on you.'

'I know sir. I'll die before that happens.'


	16. Chapter 16 Rock On

**Chapter 16**** – Rock On**

Tessa and Del left the conference room where they had just had a meeting with Lord Mallory. He had granted Tessa permission to go on her round the world trip and she was bouncing off the walls, floor and ceiling. Del couldn't do anything but laugh at her; she had that effect on people

'You're going to have to put the final touches to your plans; finalise dates, times and flight and the latest intelligence reports. I'm not taking you into an area that is way too hot.' Del told her.

'I know and we shall. I want to be on the move by the end of the week, when Sousuke head's back to Tokyo; that is our starting point. We'd best get to work then; we don't have long.' Tessa sang cheerfully, Del grumbled a 'hai ma'am.'

Del dropped Tessa back off at her quarters before heading down to the armoury to sign in his new Vector. It could wait until another day before they left for him to zero it in. He went back to his room and got changed before heading down to the bar. He again proceeded to get rather drunk, with Mao and Cruz; this was becoming too much of a habit.

'I hear Lord Mallory has given Tessa permission to go travelling then.' Kruz half slurred.

'Yes he has; nice bloke actually.' Del replied slurping on a pint.

'You lucky bastard! I wanted that job; spending 24/7 with Tessa-chan, oh what bliss!' he jeered, Mao gave him a right hook he screamed in pain; 'nee-chan! What was that for?'

'For being a hentia. That's why you didn't get the job you're a sex maniac. Now shut up and drink your beer.' Mao ordered, Kruz groaned and slurped his beer. 'We need to throw a party for you two leaving especially if it's by the end of the week.'

'We're not leaving at the end of the week. I need to check my own sources and set up plan B's for every country we visit on top of the Mithril ones. I want to work on her hand-to-hand combat, medical training and some other stuff as well.' Del took a gulp of his pint, 'but I do agree on the idea of a party.'

Del woke the next day and had a meeting with Tessa; he had to break the news to her that they wouldn't make the end of the week departure deadline but maybe the week after. He insisted that it just wasn't practical and the seeing as they were going away for such a long time and extra 5 or 7 days wouldn't matter much. She did like the idea of an intensive hand-to-hand course and she understood the need for an extensive intelligence research. Tessa had the idea of putting together a team responsible for helping gather intelligence, as liaisons to other Mithril bases for emergencies and as a small combat extraction team.

The immediately decided that the small combat team would contain SgtMaj Mao, Sgt Kruz and 2nd Lieutenant McFarlane (2Lt), who would also work with 2Lt _King_ and 1Lt _Panda _as an intelligence and liaison team. Mao, Kruz McFarlane would be on standby to deploy anywhere, at anytime and hook up with the local SRT team to perform the task of extracting the pair of them or at least Tessa. While they worked on that (and the surprise leaving party) Del taught Tessa how to fight; they hit the gym.

Del turned up in his sports kit, track suit pants, t-shirt and a hoody. Tessa had her normal shorts, white t-shirt and a plaster across her nose, she had also tired her hair up again. She dumped her bag on the floor and turned to greet Del with a smile. 'Ohayō Del-san!'

'Good morning Tessa. You ready?' he asked wrapping his hand in strapping.

'I believe so Del. I do not know much about hand to hand fighting so you'll have to start with the basics.'

'Ok, rule number one...' Del started. Tessa turned to look at Del, but he was mid throw of a heavy right hook, Tessa froze in fear. Del pulled out of the punch. 'Forget about all this "honourable fighting" crap. If you have advantages take them. When you fight like this there is no right or wrong there is just living. I can teach you the right way to disarm someone with a knife or a gun, the correct way to throw a punch, to kick, to block a strike, throw and pin someone. How you apply these techniques is entirely up to you and the environment around you. I'm not doing to teach you fight; I'm going to teach you to brawl.'

Tessa gulped. 'I don't think I can throw a person.'

'You will in time. So let's start with the basics; how to throw a proper punch.' Del smiled and began his lesson. Starting with different punches and elbow strikes, how to apply them to various situations. Many people passed and looked in on Del and Tessa training. By mid afternoon Tessa felt up to a little sparring. Del had punching mitts on his hands and Tessa was throwing punches, elbow strikes and half hearted kicks.

'Faster! I punch here what you going to do?' Del threw a soft punch which Tessa blocked and followed with a strike of her own; it was quite a ferocious one and nearly caught Del off guard, if he hadn't of ducked it would have landed squarely on his jaw and possibly even broke it.

A small round of applause came from the corner of the room. 'Well done Tessa; you've improved massively. That last punch was a monster.' Mao praised from her position leaning against the door frame.

'It most certainly was, if you had landed that one I'd have been out cold if you'd landed it.' Del was panting. Tessa had done well today she was improving massively, 'think it's time to call it a day, we can continue tomorrow.'

Del headed back to his quarters and showered. Again he was interrupted by a certain someone again...

'King this is turning into a bad habit of yours. I'm sure you're obsessed with me.' Del comment as he stood half naked, wrapped in a towel.

'The committee wants to see you?' she said coldly.

'Committee?'

'Just go to the bar and sit with Mao and the rest of us.' King snorted and turned on her heels and left. God King was a pain in the arse but he couldn't help but like her, weird as she was. He continued to get dressed, finished filling in some paper work and booked some time on the range to sort out the Vector.

Del then headed to the bar as instructed. It wasn't hard to spot Moa & Co. They took up an entire booth; Sousuke was the only one without a pint of beer or wine; he had a glass of orange juice.

'About time you got here. We've been waiting for so long that we've _had_ to start drinking to prevent the onset of boredom.' King said. Del noticed that the table was beginning to fill up with glasses and bottles of wine.

'I'll get a round in and then will you tell me why you've dragged me here.' He groaned and headed to the bar; it was an expensive round...

Del brought all the drinks over which took a few runs, as Panda and King were hitting the wine big style, with a bottle each. MacFarlane, Mao and Kruz had their pints along with Del, who fancied a pint of Guinness; Sousuke just had some orange juice. 'Ok so what is this all about?'

'Well, we are the; Tessa Leaving Party Committee.' Panda slurred slightly, Del was not amused much.

'You dragged me down here to tell me that because..?' Del asked.

'Well pretty much everything is arranged apart from one thing; music.' Answered King, Del looked on for an answer.

'I have a load of DJing equipment and I'm happy to do some of the music for the night but what we're really after is some live music.' McFarlane continued.

'Ok... yes a live band would be pretty cool I'm sure Tessa would love it, but what has this got to do with me?' Del pressed again.

'We kind of noticed your very nice Bass Guitar that came with your stuff from England...' Del could tell where King was taking this conversation and he wasn't very keen on it, 'and we wanted to know how much you play as myself Panda and McFarlane are in band somewhat and we're short a Bassist.'

Del looked at the people in front of him, 'and you had to drag me down to the bar to ask this when you could have asked me at any time?'

'Yes we could of but we wanted to get drunk.' King replied.

'I sort of play. Haven't in a while though, but I'm sure I could give it a go.' Del agreed.

Panda and King beamed massive smiles at him. 'Excellent! I assume you can read Bass Tabs?' Panda squealed shoving papers under his nose along with a CD, 'these are the songs we are going to play. You have a week to learn them and you'd better not suck!'

Del gulped, then took an even larger gulp of his pint and wondered what the hell he'd gotten himself into. King told him where to come for practice sessions with everyone else. The first one was tomorrow evening; he rapidly downed his pint and ordered another.

Del didn't remember getting back to his room in great detail and had a decent headache the next morning. It wasn't drink related; he must have banged his head whilst heading back to his room... Ok it was drink related; he had a banging hangover and had another full day of training with Tessa, some of it on the firing range, the ear defenders might come into use today. They met in the gym and did some basic disarming drills; disarming someone armed with a knife or a gun or a banana fiend. Tessa didn't get Del's Monty Python reference*.

They broke for lunch and headed down to the pistol range and Del's head had recovered enough to spa ok but gunshots had him in a world of pain. It was on with the ear defenders and weather the storm of gunshots booing like thunder. He took the time to zero in his new Vector submachine gun for both its iron and red-dot sights and the torch and laser aids. Where the laser and torch pointed that's where the rounds will hit, even with a suppressor on the end. Del was knocking the water back too trying to flush the alcohol out of his system before practice tonight, it wasn't looking good.

Del ended their training for the day. He was seriously drained and needed a shower. He went back to his room and showered before tuning his bass in to 'Drop D' and headed out to his car and onto the secret practice session.

'Del-kun! About time you showed up.' King groaned.

'Shush. Unlike you Intelligence guys I've been training today not sitting at a computer looking at pretty pictures and reports that don't reflect what's actually going down on the ground.' Del countered.

'Ooo get you. We're all tuned up and ready to go, plug in and let's start rocking. Smoke on the Water seems like a good place to start. I assume you know it?' King asked.

'Just shut up and play.' Del grumbled, King started on the guitar soon followed by Del on the his bass

_In case you want to play along too here is the bass tab;_

Intro - wait for a while for the guitar to play then you play

G-|

D-|

A-|

E-0-1-2-|

Intro riff

G-

D-

A-3-3-3-1-

E-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-

G-|

D-|

A-|

E-3-3-3-3-3-3-1-2-|

G-

D-

A-3-3-3-1-

E-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-

G-|

D-5-3-|

A-1-5-|

E-3-3-3-|

Verse - play all way through once

G-

D.-5-5-5-5-3-5-

A.-5-5-5-1-1-3-5-5-3-1-3-5-5-3-1-

E-3-3-3-3-1-3-3-

G-

D-5-5-5-5-5-5-3-

A-5-5-5-5-5-5-3-5-4-3-1-

E-3-3-3-3-1-3-3-1-2-

G-

D-5-5-5-3-5-3-5-3-

A-5-5-5-3-1-5-3-5-3-3-

E-3-3-3-3-1-3-1-1-3-3-

G-|

D-5-5-5-3-5-3-5-3-.|

A-5-5-3-5-5-3-5-5-3-5-3-.|

E-3-3-3-3-1-3-3-3-1-|

Chorus

G-|

D-|

A-3~-1-1-1-1-3~-|

E-4~-3-3-3-3-1-3-3-3-3-3-1-4~-|

Intro riff

G-

D-

A-3-3-3-1-

E-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-

G-|

D-|

A-|

E-3-3-3-3-3-3-1-2-|

G-

D-

A-3-3-3-1-

E-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-

G-|

D-5-3-|

A-1-5-|

E-3-3-3-|

Verse

G-

D.-5-5-5-5-3-5-

A.-5-5-5-1-1-3-5-5-3-1-3-5-5-3-1-

E-3-3-3-3-1-3-3-

G-

D-5-5-5-5-5-5-3-

A-5-5-5-5-5-5-3-5-4-3-1-

E-3-3-3-3-1-3-3-1-2-

G-

D-5-5-5-3-5-3-5-3-

A-5-5-5-3-1-5-3-5-3-3-

E-3-3-3-3-1-3-1-1-3-3-

G-|

D-5-5-5-3-5-3-5-3-.|

A-5-5-3-5-5-3-5-5-3-5-3-.|

E-3-3-3-3-1-3-3-3-1-|

Chorus

G-|

D-|

A-3~-1-1-1-1-3~-|

E-4~-3-3-3-3-1-3-3-3-3-3-1-4~-|

Intro riff

G-

D-

A-3-3-3-1-

E-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-

G-|

D-|

A-|

E-3-3-3-3-3-3-1-2-|

G-

D-

A-3-3-3-1-

E-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-

G-|

D-5-3-|

A-1-5-|

E-3-3-3-|

Solo

G-

D.-5-3-1-3-5-3-1-

A.-1-3-5-5-3-1-1-3-5-3-3-1-

E-3-3-1-2-3-

G-|X4

D-5-3-3-.|

A-5-1-3-5-.|

E-3-|

G-|

D-|

A-3~-|

E-1~-0-1-2-|

Intro riff - Play this twice

G-

D.-

A.-3-3-3-1-

E-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-

G-|

D-.|

A-.|

E-3-3-3-3-3-3-1-2-|

Then play this part once

G-

D-

A-3-3-3-1-

E-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-

G-|

D-5-3-|

A-1-5-|

E-3-3-3-|

Verse

G-

D.-5-5-5-5-3-5-

A.-5-5-5-1-1-3-5-5-3-1-3-5-5-3-1-

E-3-3-3-3-1-3-3-

G-

D-5-5-5-5-5-5-3-

A-5-5-5-5-5-5-3-5-4-3-1-

E-3-3-3-3-1-3-3-1-2-

G-

D-5-5-5-3-5-3-5-3-

A-5-5-5-3-1-5-3-5-3-3-

E-3-3-3-3-1-3-1-1-3-3-

G-|

D-5-5-5-3-5-3-5-3-.|

A-5-5-3-5-5-3-5-5-3-5-3-.|

E-3-3-3-3-1-3-3-3-1-|

Chorus

G-|

D-|

A-3~-1-1-1-1-3~-|

E-4~-3-3-3-3-1-3-3-3-3-3-1-4~-|

Outro - Play until song ends/ fades out

G-

D-

A-3-3-3-1-

E-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-

G-|

D-|

A-|

E-3-3-3-3-3-3-1-2-|

_This and many other bass tabs can be found on: .net_

'Ok, I take that back. You can play.' King teased.

'There's more to me than meets the eye.' Del answered taking a swing of water.

'Transformers! Robots in disguise!' McFarlane shouted... 'What?'


	17. Chapter 17 - The Test

**Chapter 17 – The Test**

_My apologies for the balls up of a Bass Tab I put in the last chapter. I would change it but I'm just too damn lazy to do so and for taking so damn long to add another chapter, there have been some... issues I've had to deal with. Anyway that's all from me. Now on with the story!_

The practicing went on, the little band that had formed were getting better and better. Tessa was improving too. She was getting stronger and faster. She wasn't a super athlete (or soldier) who could run all day, but she would pass. She could get out of bother and closer to help than in her previous state and that was all that mattered. She was shooting better too; her groupings where smaller, target acquisition was faster and her confidence with a weapon was much better.

Sousuke had left a few days previously and had half arranged things in Tokyo. Del was to stay with him in the apartment across from Chidori where Tessa would stay with her. Del arranged for his car to be flown over with them. They wouldn't be any type of fancy air drop; just a plain simple landing at a boring out of the way airfield. Anything to avoid attract attention to their arrival.

During the day Del spent most of the time training with the SRT members. He did try out shooting Kruz on the sniper range but with little success. He participated in another training exercise, this time a combined infantry and AS operation. Again his expertise of covert movements and detailed reconnaissance, before the assault commenced and then as the commander in the field for the infantry part of the assault. He led courses in Anti- Arm Slave Techniques not listed in any operations guide and then even got a go in an AS himself. He enjoyed blasting off some big rounds but decided it wasn't his thing, it had nothing to do with the fact he kept falling flat on his arse. Making very large dents in the concrete and the armour of the M6 he was using.

He set up an advanced driving course for those in the CPU

Del and the rest had another practice session when King came out with something that all of them had over looked; 'we need a name.' 'Our band; we need a name.'

'Oh cock.' Del said, bass hanging from his shoulder.

'I've never even thought about it.' Panda sulked. 'We need a cool one.'

'Well that's a given.' McFarlane agreed.

'K-On?' Del suggested, 'it's Japanese for "Light Music". Kind of describes what we play, nothing to heavy or too poppy.' The others nodded in agreement. They struck up playing again (Paint It Black – The Rolling Stones) and it sounded great. The 4 of them smiled and nodded collectively; they were ready and just in time as they had to perform the following night.

Del spent most of the following day packing, everything he would need went into a suitcase and was stored by his the door inside his room. He had barely moved in and he was moving out, but such was his life and he was used to it. There was a lunchtime meeting with the rest of the team who would monitor their trip. Everything was ready and all the immediate travel arrangements had been set the later ones wouldn't need to be sorted until much closer the time of travel. Tessa was brimming with excitement; her smile that normally glowed was now blindingly bright. Since arriving he and Tessa had become good friends to the point where she insisted that they stop calling each other by rank when it was just the pair of them, she had already been calling him Del-kun for a while and he couldn't be bothered to argue with her and over time he knew it would become second nature. They had supper together in the officer's mess. They parted ways and went back to their rooms. Of course Del headed straight to one of the empty hangers where Tessa's party had been set up. Del arrived with his bass guitar and did a final sound check and quick practice, everything sounded right through the bigger amps.

It was the day before they are to take to the skies. Del had one little hurdle for Tessa to jump over before she could leave; put everything she had learnt in the past few days into practice whilst under pressure. Del set up an assault course, well a combined assault course. Tessa would have to run 1mile then into a small hand to hand combat fight, she'd have to score 3 hits to pass. Then she'd have to sprint to the medical drill stage and patch up some 'wounded' soldiers, finally it would be a 2mile speed march with weight on her back into the shooting range with a mix of static and moving shooting tests but not all targets would be free to be shot at.

If she finished in less than double the amount of time he could do it in then she'd pass. Tessa didn't know anything about the severity of the test or that it would be all ran into one big test. She was clearly nervous about it, her whole trip rested on the next few hours. Del gave her a final run through of everything, top to bottom.

'Ok Tessa, are you ready?' Del asked standing on the start line.

'I think so Del-san. I've had a good teacher.' She smiled nervously. Del just nodded.

'I did this in 45minutes. You have 1hour 30mins. Do you understand what you have to do at each station?' Tessa nodded in reply. A small crowd had gathered to cheer her on. 'Right. Stand by, stand by... Go!' and clicked the stop watch, Tessa sprinted off the start but soon settled into steady pace up a long but not all that steep hill. Del took a short cut to get the shooting range and a cup of tea. He had some time to kill.

Kruz (obviously) was one of the group; as was Mao. They followed her off the line and settled into a jog beside her to provide encouragement that and Mao was meant to be Tessa's opponent in the hand to hand fight. A mile didn't sound like much but to Tessa it was. She'd never done much physical stuff in her lifetime so this wasn't just a big step, it was a huge leap. She was half way up the hill and was starting to pant a little.

She reached the top of the hill, took a swig of water and went into the area where she was going to face her hand to hand test against Mao. Tessa gulped seeing she had to face to big ex-US Marine. Mao was tall, strong and well practiced, Tessa wasn't any of these but she did have a few things on her side; she was small and agile. Mao would have to make a big effort to hit such a small fast moving target. They faced each other, Kruz stood off to the side. 'Ladies are you ready?' He asked a smirk spreading across his face that only read _I wish there was mud involved_. Mao nodded as did Tessa. 'Then, begin' he declared.

Tessa rushed Mao keeping as low as possible, Mao tried to grab her and missed; Tessa slid across the ground between Mao's legs and sprang to her feet and tackled Mao from behind. The pair clattered to the floor, Mao had the wind knocked out of her and was stunned for long enough to let Tessa get her into a hold. 1point to Tessa. Kruz was stunned; Mao was shocked, far off looking through some binoculars Del nodded.

Mao got up without saying a word, pissed off that little Tessa had felled her so quickly. She grabbed a blunt rubber training knife from the table and settled into a fighting stance, wielding the knife back handed. Now Tessa really was terrified now, she'd seen Mao in a knife fight and it wasn't a pretty thing. _Keep low, keep moving, and get her off balance_ she thought to herself. Mao lunged quickly, Tess just managed to block but the sheer force of Mao's assault knocked her back a few paces. Mao kept attacking, not letting up, just hit after hit. Tessa duck, dived, weaved and rolled out the way as much as possible. This wasn't going to work, Mao could out last Tessa any day. She had to do something and quick. Another lunge from Mao and Tessa was forced to dive away; she rolled across the ground kicking up a small dust cloud. She knew what to do now, wasn't exactly fair to do it to a friend but next time it might not be Mao. She heard Mao's boots crunching towards her, Tessa grabbed a handful of dirt spun round and flung it in Mao's face at the last second. Mao instantly recoiled away, blinded and confused. Tessa pounced herself, grabbing the knife from Mao's hand and 'stabbed' her with it. Mao was still staggering around, disorientated she slumped to the floor.

'Ok Tessa you win, I can't see shit.' Mao sighed.

'I'm sorry, are you ok?' Tessa asked, fighting the urge to run to her friend's side.

'Yeah, I'll be fine. Nice to see you can fight dirty if you have to. Well done, go patch some people up.' Mao answered with a smile.

Tessa ran over to the medic station and got to work with the limited supplies she had to hand. He slung a broken arm, fitted and tourniquet to an "amputated" leg and to finish fitted a chest seal to an chest wound then stuck them in the recovery position.

She then donned combat webbing, a weighted Burgan and held a rifle in her hands. Moa had done the same as well as a few other of the SRT. They set off. It was now the hottest part of the day and the sun blazed down baking the dirt road; causing it to crack. To make it worse it was all up hill.

Tessa was struggling, really struggling. She breathed hard in between gulps of warm water. The SRT encouraged her on; she crested the top of the hill and looked down to see the rifle range. Her test was almost over. She ran down the hill, stumbling all the way as the excess weight of the kit dragged her off balance but she kept it together.

'Well done you've finished the march. Dump the Burgan, take on fluids and get ready to start firing.' Del said firmly. Tessa could hardly speak and just flung off her Burgan and gulped down water. Before walking over to the range where Del was waiting, a pair of ear defenders hung around his neck limply. 'You have one magazine, 30 rounds and 112 seconds to fill the magazine,' he produced a stop watch, 'go!'

Tessa floundered and started clumsily forcing bullets into the magazine. A rapid metallic clunk and scrape came from a panting Tessa. It took 100 seconds, caused a few cuts on her fingers but she got all 30 in.

'Ready your weapon and proceed to the 1st lane, take a kneeing position and watch for targets. Black is safe to fire upon, white isn't.' Del ordered. Tessa slotted the magazine into her weapon and crouched in lane one. A large rack was covered with a sheet that dropped to reveal black and white targets. Tessa fired 10 shots. 10 black targets shattered. The crowd cheered loudly, Tessa put the rifle down and breathed a sigh of relief. It was over, but had she passed?

Looking around for Del but she couldn't, he had disappeared.


End file.
